John's Team
Tyrant - Slaking
Vordt - Ursaluna
Smough - Snorlax
Klee - Blissey
Port - Mantine
Zephyr - Pidgeot
Klaus - Wyrdeer
Luna - Clefable
Pixel - Porygon2
Euphie - Sylveon
Ornstein - D-Linoone
The New Normal – 8-14 – Hisuian Discoveries
As we watched the terrifying army of wild Pokémon stampeding towards us, I realized that, for the first time since we entered into the caves, we no longer had the raw numbers advantage compared to the wild Pokémon, since we had left behind many of the trainers to form and set up the perimeter around the forward base.
But there wasn't time to worry about that.
"Tyrant, Smough, protect us!"
"Garchomp! Milotic! Defend us!"
Tyrant came charging out of his Premier Ball with a powerful roar, smashing his fist straight into a Mamoswine that was trying to rush us down, before grappling onto his tusks and brutally slamming it into a wall.
At the same time, Garchomp swooped in from above, raking a Dragon Claw that ripped through the H-Zoroark before it could pounce on one of the explorers. The H-Zoroark struggled in Garchomp's grasp, but Garchomp was indifferent as it smashed it face-first into the ground and firing off a Stone Edge that ripped through the fallen H-Zoroark.
It didn't stand a chance.
My eyes instinctively went to stare at Garchomp, marvelling at its form and strength, but now was definitely not the time for it.
As that was happening, Klee and Luna quickly formed a Reflect and Light Screen to protect the entire group, and Smough and Milotic joined the front lines as they moved to repel the incoming onslaught of Pokémon. Smough followed in Tyrant's footsteps and slammed a Hammer Arm into an incoming Rhydon, stunning it for enough time so that Milotic could come in and fire off a Hydro Pump that blasted the Rhydon away.
I wanted to release my other Pokémon as well, but in the narrow opening we were currently trapped in, we just didn't have enough space to release all of our Pokémon, not with the other trainers' Pokémon also taking up space.
Then the earth shook, the powerful tremors throwing us all onto the ground as a massive Steelix erupted out from the ground with a Dig, completely knocking out a Gallade as it was taken by surprise. The Steelix then let out a deafening roar as its maw began to glow blue, a Dragon Pulse charging up from within.
But before it could fire it off, Lucario rushed in like a blur, smashing the Steelix with a Force Palm to the jaw. Steelix's head was snapped to the side from the impact, staggering it for long enough for Tyrant to leap over and grapple the Steelix before launching it away with a Seismic Toss. The large iron snake was sent crashing into a group of Gastrodon, knocking them over completely.
A pained cry caught my attention, and I turned to see one of the explorer's Leafeon go down to a Poison Jab from the Sneasler. Another Magmar tried to retaliate with a Flamethrower, but it didn't do as much damage as it hoped and the Sneasler was able to dive through the flames and pummel it down with a Brick Break. I grimaced, realizing that the Pokémon's unknown typing was causing these trainers to be caught unaware.
Fortunately, before the Sneasler could do more damage, Klee sent it flying with a powerful blast of Psychic, the extremely supereffective attack immediately knocking out the Sneasler as it crashed into an Abomasnow that was preparing to fire off an Ice Beam.
It was at that moment that the area around us suddenly dropped even further in temperature as a powerful Blizzard formed within our ranks, threatening to engulf us all in a vortex of frost and ice. I turned to where the attack was coming from, realizing that it was a Walrein that was channelling the attack.
"SMOUGH! GO!"
Being the closest Pokémon to the Walrein, Smough charged forwards, Body Slamming a few weaker Gliscor out of the way, its fists crackling with lightning as it delivered a devastating Thunder Punch straight into the Walrein. The paralysis immediately set in, interrupting its attack and saving us all from being suddenly consumed by a deathly Blizzard.
A cry from Klee spun me around, and I turned to see the Kleavor suddenly cut through a torrent of flames and knocked out a Flareon; its large Stone Axes came crashing down and smashing the unaware Fire type into the ground. But before it could choose its next target, Cynthia's Garchomp slammed into it with a savage Dragon Rush, crashing the two of them mercilessly into the wall before a ferocious Iron Head from Garchomp sent the Kleavor crumbling to the floor.
Then Tyrant made himself known once more as he pounced onto a charging Hippowdon, smashing down with an Ice Punch that buried the Hippowdon into the ground. Stones began flying his way from an opposing Gliscor, but a sweeping Ice Beam silenced the Gliscor for the rest of the fight.
Unsatisfied with his current tally count, Tyrant roared and dove right back into the fight, becoming a whirlwind of violence that savaged any unlucky enough to cross his path.
With Tyrant's 'distraction', our Pokémon had managed to secure a small moment to breathe as the wild Pokémon hesitated slightly, losing confidence as their survival instincts warned them of our strength. Taking advantage in a momentary lull in the fighting, I moved to Cynthia.
"Fight through? Or back off?" I asked, knowing that she was in command of the expedition.
"Fight through!" She shouted out determinedly, once again reestablishing direction and authority over the group, "Show of force! Drive them back!"
Taking advantage of the wild Pokémon's momentary hesitation, we all ordered our Pokémon forwards, eschewing our previous defensive stance in exchange for one of pure offense. We hoped to simply scare the wild Pokémon away instead of having to take them out one by one.
Not wanting to be left out, Cynthia's Garchomp led the charge this time, copying Tyrant as it rushed straight into the fray, charging and crashing through all that stood in its way with another Dragon Rush. Anything that came close to Garchomp became eviscerated with its deadly Dragon Claws or smashed aside by its Dragon Tails.
Even with all their strength and experience in fighting each other, the wild Pokémon were nothing compared to the likes of Tyrant and Garchomp. The two of them quickly tore a hole through the wild Pokémon's lines, and the momentum rapidly shifted in our favour.
Cynthia's Milotic unleashed a sweeping Hydro Pump, firing off a torrent of water that swept through the opposing Ground types and suppressing them for long enough for our other Pokémon to move in and knock them out. At the same time, Lucario and Smough charged forwards, a mixture of speed and power as they rampaged through the vulnerable Pokémon, throwing themselves forwards with as much aggression as possible.
A Mamoswine was kicked aside by Lucario right into the waiting arms of Smough, who smashed down with a Hammer Arm and buried the Mamoswine into the ground. Another uppercut from Smough sent another Rhydon reeling back in pain before a Flash Cannon from Lucario took it out.
Then a flaming Abomasnow was sent careening through the opening as Garchomp had hurled it through the air before it crashed into a unsuspecting group of Weavile who had been trying to flank around. In their distraction, they didn't see the powerful torrent of water from Milotic's Hydro Pump until it was too late, and they ended up being helplessly blasted and pinned to the wall.
Our aggression paid off. With the wild Pokémon being more prioritized on their own self-interest, they quickly came to the realisation that fighting us was no longer worth it. A few of them starting retreating, and we made sure to pursue them for a short while to make sure that their retreat would turn into a full rout – one where they all ran away panicked and afraid.
Leaving us with a wide open, but empty clearing in the caves.
"Check up on the wounded!" Cynthia ordered, "Form a defensive perimeter, look out for new threats!"
"Gather the wounded here!" I called out as Klee and Luna started in their healing duties, "Prioritize the most injured first!"
We organized ourselves efficiently and Klee and Luna were quick to start healing up those that had been badly injured or taken a hit during the wild Pokémon's assault. As we waited for the Pokémon to heal up, Cynthia approached me.
"This is a find of a lifetime." Her eyes were practically alight with excitement, "Never before seen Pokémon! Alternate types! I think I recognize that Scizor lookalike; I think there were records of them somewhere!"
"Should we secure a few?" I asked, eager to get my hands on the Hisuian Zoroark that had just been knocked out.
"We must." She nodded excitedly, but then she turned serious, "But we must not let our enthusiasm overcome us. We're still in very dangerous territory and we have wounded with us. Safety must come first. I suggest we capture a few of these and retreat back to the forward base. We can decide what to do with them afterwards."
She looked to the rest of the explorers, "Are we all in agreement?" Everyone just nodded back, most of them too tired or exhausted to say much else.
And so, we made use of their extra Pokéballs that we had brought along for this very purpose. I made sure to capture the H-Zoroark, while the others moved to capture the Kleavor and a few of the other rarer Pokémon like Mamoswine. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any traces of where the Sneasler had went. It must have been blasted back too far and retreated before we could secure it.
I noticed that it was a shame that we didn't see a Hisuian Avalugg anywhere. If anything, the freezing and frost-filled caves would have been ideal living conditions for it, but perhaps we got unlucky and that there were none around at the moment.
After making sure all of the new Pokémon were secured, and that our Pokémon were properly healed up, we quickly retreated out of the clearing, not wanting to test our luck any further. We promptly made our way back to the forward base, having to fight through a few small skirmishes, but nothing that mine or Cynthia's Pokémon couldn't handle.
By the time we returned to the forward base, the exhaustion seemed to hit me all at once, and I practically collapsed into one of the foldable chairs that they had set up. Cynthia was the same, and she let out a huge, tired sigh as she sat down into the chair next to me. But despite all the tiredness, we both shared satisfied smiles.
"That was totally worth it." She breathed out, "…Just let me catch my breath for a few minutes and we can inspect our captures."
"Fine by me. I'm exhausted too." I replied, slumping further into my chair. But it didn't take long for the whispers to spread around the forward base, and soon enough the entire base knew about our miraculous captures. Fortunately, the reporters had all left and the rest were all contracted to silence anyways, so at least this news wouldn't spread outside of here.
Realizing that we couldn't rest any longer, we both reluctantly pulled ourselves out of our seats and gathered up in one of the tents, hosting an impromptu meeting to discuss what we had just discovered.
The questions came as soon as we entered.
"Cynthia! Are we going to be declaring this to the public!? A new Scizor evolution would be incredible!" One of the explorers excitedly asked.
"No, you idiot! That clearly was a SCYTHER evolution! Not a Scizor! There was no metal!" Another denied.
"We should have stayed to capture that weird tall Weavile lookalike!" Yet another explorer called out, "We could have hunted it down and captured it!"
"We needed to get out of there, or were you not on your last Pokémon as well?" The meeting was quick to devolve into pointless arguments.
"Enough! Sit down!" Cynthia demanded, her forceful presence suddenly silencing them all. She glared at the group, and none dared to speak up, "I thought you were all experienced explorers, or has the thought of a new discovery suddenly robbed you all of your wits? Sit yourselves down, have a drink of water, and we can discuss this like civilised people."
The explorers all moved to obey, and a calm silence finally fell on the meeting. "Good, now I shall start. Can I please have a few Pokémon ready to restrain this…new Pokémon, in case it's still hostile?" She released her own Lucario, and I volunteered and threw out Klaus and Pixel. A few of the other explorers released their own Psychic types as well.
Satisfied with the lineup, Cynthia threw out a Pokéball, releasing her Kleavor into the room.
Having healed up slightly from its injuries, the Kleavor instantly snarled and threw itself at the nearest available target, being my Klaus. But it didn't get far before a huge amount of Psychic energy suddenly slammed it into the ground, restraining it and preventing it from moving a muscle.
"A shame…" Cynthia idly muttered, "I'd hope for it to be more obedient."
I made a show of looking Kleavor over, "It looks more like a Scyther evolution to me. No traces of metal anywhere that you would expect to see from a Scizor." I gestured to his large stone axes, "And the axes look a little too rocky for it to be made of metal."
Cynthia kneeled down to get a better look, ignoring the frustrated and vicious growls coming from the Kleavor, "I'm think I'm going to agree with you. This looks like a Scyther that has adapted to spending its entire life underground and has evolved to better fight back against all the Rock and Ice types that could be found there."
"Probably a Rock/Bug type then." I suggested, getting a few nods of agreements from the other explorers.
"Perhaps…but we need to do more tests regarding that." She commented, "Luckily we have all the equipment to do said tests here."
"But Cynthia, are we going to be publishing these findings?" An explorer asked.
"Yes, but not for some time. I want to make sure we have an accurate collection of data first." She replied, "No need to risk publishing false information, after all." Everyone nodded along with that.
We poked and prodded Kleavor a little longer, but eventually Cynthia withdrew it back into her Pokéball since Kleavor was getting increasingly frustrated with being restrained for so long. And deliberately angering a Pokémon was never a good idea.
"Your turn, John." I nodded to her and released the new H-Zoroark.
But instead of a white and red spirit being released, what came out was my Blissey. She looked around blankly for a moment, her face a picture of innocence. The Pokémon that were meant to restrain it didn't move as they simply stared confusedly, likely thinking that I released the wrong Pokémon.
"KLAUS, PIXEL! RESTRAIN IT!"
Not questioning my decision, both of my Pokémon immediately blasted it with a powerful wave of Psychic. 'Blissey' cried out in pain, and her form rippled, revealing the illusion for what it was. As the illusion faded, the other Pokémon snapped out of their confusion and joined in to restrain the H-Zoroark. Though that hard was made even harder by the fact that the H-Zoroark seemed to be nothing but pure rage and anger.
Our Pokémon strained themselves to keep it restrained, but it kept trying to break free with raw defiant determination. It was even worse than Kleavor.
"Fascinating. I have never seen a Pokémon like that, especially not one that could disguise itself." Cynthia muttered as she inspected the H-Zoroark.
"Think it is a different Pokémon species?" An explorer asked.
"Yes. Most certainly. It doesn't resemble anything we've seen thus far." Cynthia nodded, with me joining her.
"Another Dark/Ghost type then?" Another suggested, "It makes sense considering its ability to form illusions. Ghosts and Dark types are infamous for their tricks."
"Our Psychic attacks wouldn't have worked if it was a Dark type." I pointed out, "But my gut agrees that it is partially a Ghost type."
"Too many guesses, not enough evidence." Cynthia interrupted with a shake of her head, "The only thing I'm confident in at the moment is that this is a new species of Pokémon entirely. Which means more testing."
"I feel like we have had texts describing such a Pokémon in the history of Hisui, though." An explorer explained, "I'm confident that what we have here is a Pokémon that existed in the distance past. I'm pretty sure we've had descriptions about a notorious Pokémon known for its tricks and illusions."
"…Yes, I think I remember reading about that." Cynthia muttered, jogging her memory, "I even remember they had a name for it, but that escapes me at the moment." She gave the H-Zoroark another inspecting look.
"…Be that as it may, I think it would be prudent to decide what we should do next." One of the accompanying scientists spoke up, "Should we get the testing done now? Better to get this information jotted down as soon as possible."
"Yes, let's." Cynthia agreed, and the meeting broke up as a few explorers moved to rest while the rest of us headed to the tent that contained all of the testing equipment.
Testing proved to be as difficult as we imagined it to be, considering how uncooperative our new Pokémon were. Though that was hardly unexpected, and these scientists had clearly worked with ornery and aggressive Pokémon before because they hardly even seemed fazed at their defiance.
Kleavor went first, and since we already had a baseline to work with, it didn't take long for us to definitively prove that it was a Rock/Bug type. Everyone seemed pleased about the rare type combination.
"It looks like it has the potential to be an excellent fighter." I commented to Cynthia.
"Indeed. It'd be a fine addition to any team…" She muttered thoughtfully as she thought deeply about something. "By the way, has anyone gotten its name?"
"I'm pretty sure it keeps repeating 'Kleavor'. So that's its name." One of the scientists pointed out.
Cynthia's eyes shined, "That is a good name. I like it. Fits very well with Scyther and Scizor's names as well." The others muttered in agreement.
With Kleavor's test finished, we moved on to H-Zoroark. We had to quickly bring out the equipment made specifically to restrain Ghost types, and it tried but failed to trick us again with its illusions.
These tests took much longer, and it was only when I made the idle suggestion that we should test Ghost types moves against it that they realized that it was a Ghost/Normal type. That turned a few heads my way, as I supposed I didn't hide the naked interest in my eyes well enough ever since we caught the Pokémon.
We also confirmed the name to be a 'Zoroark', and that it WAS indeed a whole new species of Pokémon entirely. The scientists and explorers also confirmed that there were descriptions of a similar Pokémon having existed in the distant past, and that Zoroark was very likely the Pokémon they were describing.
Because of this, there were also talks about trying to honour its origins so that it would be called a "Hisuian-Zoroark", as a constant reminder of where it originated, but that ended up being too much of a mouthful. So after a brief discussion, it was decided that we would be sticking with just 'Zoroark'.
I might still call it a Hisuian-Zoroark in my own head though.
But then it came to the real question, "…Who should have authority over these Pokémon?" One of the scientists asked prudently, "Or would they just fall under the common authority of the Celestic Town Research Centre?"
Cynthia paused, tilting her head as she took a long moment to think things over. While she WAS in charge, it wouldn't be good to simply ignore the contributions of all the other explorers and scientists that jointly helped with this discovery.
"…John, are you interested in keeping control over your latest capture?" She eventually asked me.
"Certainly." I nodded immediately, "I'm very interested in being able to train up a Normal/Ghost type. I think it would be an excellent addition to my team if you would allow me to keep it."
"I know that my grandmother and Elite Bertha promised you that you could keep and capture whatever Pokémon you found here, and I have no intentions of going against that." She told me, "However, considering that these are very unique circumstances, I'm afraid I would have to ask you for a few conditions in return, though they shouldn't be anything too onerous."
"Go ahead." I replied, expecting this.
"Firstly, I want to continue doing tests with your new Pokémon until we have enough data to publish." She explained, "That means, if you return to Indigo, you would have to visit my grandmother's lab so that further tests could be performed. Especially regarding breeding." I nodded easily to that condition.
"Secondly, I would ask you to not reveal this Pokémon until we have made our official announcement." She continued, "It would make things much easier if we could have control over the narrative."
"I understand that I do not have the authority to impose these conditions on you, as you are a member of a foreign Elite Four, but you would be doing us a great favour if you could adhere to them." She finished, not too subtly reminding everyone else of my official position. Yes, if I wanted to, I could just walk out with H-Zoroark and no one could really do anything about it, but I didn't want to resort to that.
Besides, the conditions weren't harsh in the slightest. "I'm happy to agree to that." I said, "Thank you for allowing me to keep such a new and exciting Pokémon."
"Not quite yet, we still have more tests to run back at our actual lab." She chuckled, "Unfortunately, you won't get to keep your new Pokémon quite yet."
"What about Kleavor?" A scientist asked, who had been politely staying quiet during our discussion.
"Kleavor will fall under the authority of the Celestic Town Research Centre for the time being." Cynthia stated, "Once sufficient testing has been done, then we can decide on ownership."
"The same goes with any future undiscovered Pokémon that we capture from these caves." She added, "They will temporarily fall under the authority of the Research Centre until testing is completed. Authority can be decided afterwards."
Everyone else nodded. I was fortunate that most of the people here were scientists and explorers that prioritised the sciences rather than battling, as I doubt the latter would be nearly as nonchalant about losing an opportunity to have a new and potentially powerful battler on their team.
Even Cynthia, for all her self-disciplined, was practically radiating with unrestrained greed towards Kleavor. Not that I didn't understand, in her position I would love to include Kleavor onto my team as well – especially since it possessed a typing that she currently lacked.
But I put those thoughts aside as I felt around the Pokéball containing what was going to be the latest addition to my team. A Ghost/Normal type with the ability to form illusions was going to be an incredibly powerful Pokémon for me to have, and it was yet another potential counter against opposing Fighting types.
Of course, even though the H-Zoroark already seemed quite powerful already, that was marred by the fact that it had severe discipline issues and was still hostile to me. It was going to take some time to endear myself to it and for it to trust in me as its' trainer, and to get rid of whatever bad habits that it might have.
Still, that was a problem for the future. For now, I already had a name selected for my newest Pokémon. And it was quite easy to think of, considering that it was practically a spirit full of vengeance and anger.
Wraith.
A.N. H-Zoroark get! And John gets a new addition to his team! This was a long time coming, and I recognize that this was likely something on the back of many minds when I sent John to Sinnoh. And while it's going to take some time for John to be able to discipline his newest capture, it will be worth it.
This chapter has been BETAed by Allute! Cheers! And to anyone who wants to support me, please check out my p atreon at CartecTNN where you can read 8 advanced chapters! Thanks to those who have supported me already!