xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mt. Coronet, 10:01 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Walking along the upward trail leading towards a cave that entered into Mt. Coronet, Ambrose out in front with Anik and Tamara following behind him and Keats in the back, the group stopped for a brief moment as they spotted a man with a helmet riding a mountain bike approaching them at full speed. Upon seeing this, Ambrose motioned for the group to move to the side to let him pass, Anik assisting Tamara as they all moved over.

"Third cyclist heading down the mountain we've had to move for..." Ambrose thought with a raised eyebrow as the mountain biker passed them.

"Ambrose just made a comment about the number of bikers." Tamara said, reading his mind.

"Considering how huge it is, it makes sense there'd be so many." Anik said as she looked up at the mountain, the very top of it concealed by the clouds. "Back in Alola, the highest point is a place called Mt. Lanakila." She said towards Tamara, making small talk.

"I've heard about that place. It's got nothing on Coronet though in terms of height." Ambrose said as everyone went back to hiking up the trail. "There's an electromagnetic field somewhere on Mt. Coronet that's said to be able to cause Magneton and Nosepass to be able to evolve without a Thunder Stone." He said, adding to the conversation.

"Lanakila does the same thing with Crabrawler. It can evolve into a Crabominable when you reach the snowier areas, so you don't have to use an Ice Stone." Anik said.

"How bad is the snowfall?" Tamara said with curiosity.

"The whole mountain is practically covered." Anik said as she looked at Tamara. "I once thought about climbing up there to see the stars, but I think I'd catch hypothermia from it being nighttime on a snowy mountain." She said with a slightly embarrassed smile on her face.

"Pack a parka!" Tamara said with a smile.

"Funny you mention that. It's usually very humid in Alola and I still wound up bringing a ton of layered clothing with me for my internship at the observatory." Anik said, still maintaining an embarrassed smile. "I didn't even own a swimsuit in Alola, a place that's filled with beaches." She thought, remembering her time in Alola.

"I've been in a pool before, but I've never been to the beach." Tamara said, hearing her thoughts and mentioning a beach.

"You don't want to go to a beach in Alola..." Ambrose said with an annoyed look in his eyes as he glanced back at the girls. "There's a very dangerous Ghost type Pokémon that likes to hang around on the beach pretending to be a mound of sand and brainwashing people... And even possibly eating them." He said before facing forward again.

"Really?" Tamara questioned.

"Hate to agree with this jerk of a kid, but he does have a point about Sandygasts and Pallossands. They are kind of terrifying..." Anik thought while scratching her face with her left index finger before noticing Tamara's shocked face. "It's not a common occurrence though!" She said towards Tamara in an effort to not give her the wrong impression after hearing her thoughts. "Did you really have to tell her that?!" Anik said with an angry look in her eyes towards Ambrose.

"Just being honest. Don't want you withholding seriously important details about the outdoor dangers of the Alola region from Tamara." Ambrose said with a slight smirk appearing on his face, purposely agitating Anik.

"Dumb ghost hunter..." Anik thought with frustration as the group stopped, reaching the entrance to the cave. "So, this the way?" She asked towards Ambrose as he pulled out a map of Mt. Coronet.

"This is one of the ways inside." Ambrose said as Anik and Tamara turned their heads in his direction. "The inside of Mt. Coronet is described like a maze of sorts. It's very easy to get lost inside of it if you don't have a map." He explained.

"Then it's a good thing we have one." Tamara commented as she could sense Ambrose holding a piece of paper.

"How long will we be spelunking in here?" Anik asked as Ambrose pulled out his cellphone to check the time. "Not that great for me to miss looking up at the stars for two nights straight..." She thought.

"Judging by the clock... I'd say we're going to be trekking around at least for a few hours. Luckily, all we have to do is keep heading north. Once we're out of the mountain, it's just a matter of finding a path to Eterna City." Ambrose said before putting away his phone back into his pocket. "If we want to avoid running into wild Pokémon like that Honchkrow, we best stick to the routes that appear to have the least amount of malformation." He continued.

'"Malformation?"' Tamara said towards Anik and Keats.

"Think he's referring to any sort of paths that a large wild Pokémon might have gone that left footprints or cracks in the ceiling or walls." Anik said towards Tamara.

"Ohhhh." Tamara said, understanding what Ambrose meant.

"Let's get moving, folks." Ambrose said to the group.

"Got it." Tamara replied as she and the teenage ghost hunter went ahead, leaving Anik and Keats at the entryway to Mt. Coronet.

"Hope you don't have a problem with natural mazes." Anik said towards Keats as he didn't respond to her statement. "Keats?" She said, noticing his lack of response.

"...Huh?" Keats muttered as he turned his head towards her. "...I'm sorry, you say something?" He said, not paying attention.

"He's been awfully quiet since this morning with Honchkrow..." Anik thought, noticing Keats' behavior. "There something you want to get off your chest?" She asked out of concern.

"What's on my chest?" Keats said as he looked down at his shirt as he took what she said literally.

"...No, it's an expression." Anik said with half-closed eyes. "I kind of noticed you've been acting funny." She asked towards him as he looked at her.

"...I-" Keats said, about to speak before being interrupted by the sound of Ambrose.

"Hey!" Ambrose exclaimed. "You guys coming or what?!" He shouted as Anik and Keats looked at him and Tamara, several feet into the mountain.

"We're coming! Hold your Ponyta's!" Anik said loudly with a bothered look as Keats bit his lip. "...Keats?" She said towards the husky framed trainer to allow him to continue.

"...Nothing, forget it." Keats said as he waved his hand through the air, walking away from the astronomy enthusiast into Mt. Coronet.

"Hmmmm..." Anik mumbled, taking notice of Keats' seemingly sulky attitude.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mt. Coronet, 10:45 a.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

With Ambrose, Anik and Keats each holding a flashlight in their hands and Tamara holding onto Anik's wrist to help lead her along, the group followed through the cave system on their journey to Eterna City. Hearing some noise ahead, everyone ducked as a horde of Zubat flew overhead of them.

"Ugh... Don't know which is more annoying, getting out of the way for mountain bikers or getting out of the way for Zubats!" Ambrose exclaimed in annoyance as everyone stood upright.

"At least mountain bikers might apologize, Zubats don't care at all about who they bump into." Anik said towards the teenage ghost hunter.

"Me and Zubats have some things in common." Tamara mentioned casually. "They also can't see." She said as the group continued to walk through the cave.

"Right, they operate off other senses just like you." Anik said with a smile towards Tamara.

"Ambrose once told me that fact." Tamara said.

"What are you? The "knowledgeable and overly responsible big brother?"' Anik said with a jovial expression towards Ambrose as he rolled his eyes in response.

"I'm not her brother." Ambrose said with a tough voice. "But I do appreciate the fact you listen..." He thought, knowing Tamara could hear what he was thinking.

"Awwww Ambrose is being a softy!" Tamara said as Ambrose turned back to glare at the girls.

"Oh? What did he say in his head?" Anik questioned with interest as she leaned closer to Tamara, Ambrose blushing in embarrassment.

"Do not tell her what I thought!" Ambrose exclaimed in protest.

After a period of walking, the traveling party stopped at a fork in the cave that splintered into two pathways. Unsure of which way to turn, Ambrose put his flashlight in his mouth so he could take out his map and then look at it with Anik looking over his shoulder while adjusting her glasses.

"Anything?" Anik commented as Ambrose took the flashlight out of his mouth.

"I'm... Not entirely sure." Ambrose said. "The map doesn't list a splintering path." He continued. "Damn it, I thought it was just a rumor..." Ambrose thought.

"What rumor?" Tamara said as Anik looked back at her.

'"Rumor?"' Anik said with a judgmental look in her eyes at Ambrose.

"...I heard something that sounded a bit too outrageous, so I didn't bring it up before we came here." Ambrose said as he turned around, looking at the group as Anik put her hands on her hips.

"And that would be?" Anik questioned as Tamara raised an eyebrow.

"Have you heard of a story about something called "Space-time Distortions?"' Ambrose questioned towards Anik as she made a confused expression.

"No?" Anik replied, unsure of what he was referring to.

"When I was looking up stories about the Old Chateau, I also found some stuff about Mt. Coronet and this series of underground caverns throughout the Sinnoh region called the "Grand Underground" and something that has been occurring in them, specifically called "Space-time Distortions."' Ambrose explained. "From what I read; they're focalized only in Mt. Coronet and the Grand Underground. They are these "moments" where time and space collide, and things start to... "Change," I guess is the word?" He continued as Tamara and Anik tilted their heads in bewilderment.

"What's that mean?" Tamara asked.

"Apparently this was a thing in ancient Sinnoh, back when it was called the "Hisui" region." Ambrose said. "The region had these moments where bolts of lightning would occur and things like Pokémon and objects from the past or future would appear, displaced from time." He said further. "Inside Mt. Coronet, they say the Space-time Distortions are still occurring, explaining the constant "shifting" feeling some have had inside of here. The mountain is a maze because time and space in here is constantly being affected by this phenomenon." Ambrose said.

"I can believe in psychic powers..." Tamara stated. "I'm an example of that." She thought. "But I find that hard to-" Tamara continued until Anik spoke up.

"I believe it." Anik said with a plain voice as Ambrose looked at her and Tamara shifted her head in the astronomy enthusiast's direction.

"Yo-you do?" Tamara said with surprise.

"...That's a shock to me." Ambrose said.

"Back in Alola, there's research into a still-unexplained phenomenon called "Ultra Wormholes." I had heard that they were basically rifts in space and time that led to alternate dimensions." Anik said, remembering something she once heard. "I was skeptical until I saw a bunch of papers that were published from the Aether Foundation on the subject." She continued. "They're a major organization in Alola, by the way." Anik commented.

"Based on what I read about the Grand Underground, that place has a different kind of anomaly. They're called "Hideaways."' Ambrose said while making air quotes with his fingers. "While traversing the Grand Underground, there's been stories of people encountering these small biomes where Pokémon are congregating. Specifically, Pokémon that aren't native to Sinnoh's normal environments. The alterations in space and time creating habitats for Pokémon of certain types suddenly appearing down there." He explained as he pointed at the ground beneath their feet.

"Wow, so we're literally standing on the edge of time and space?" Tamara asked. "This is so cool!" She thought, hiding her excitement.

"Potentially." Ambrose replied. "I've also heard that Space-time Distortions in the Grand Underground and Mt. Coronet are the primary reason there's been a resurgence of Pokémon from Sinnoh's past that went extinct suddenly reappearing in the hands of trainers." He said.

"Like?" Anik said, mildly interested.

"Electrodes that are part Grass type. Sneasels that are Fighting and Poison type. An extinct evolution of Scyther called "Kleavor" and... One that really bothered me..." Ambrose said until making a bothered expression. "To name a few..." He thought.

'"Ghost type?"' Anik and Tamara thought with unimpressed faces.

"A Fire and... Ghost type variant of Typhlosion." Ambrose said with a displeased tone. "Among other Ghost types like Basculegion and a variant of Zoroark..." He thought with annoyance.

"Awww, what's the matter? Ancient past of the Pokémon world adding more to your ever-growing list of bigoted hatred for an entire species of Pokémon?" Anik said with a smirk, taunting Ambrose.

"Hehe." Tamara chuckled in response to Anik's words.

"Funny how you're willing to accept the existence of alternate dimensions via time and space rifts and yet you can't accept the dangers of Ghost Pokémon!" Ambrose retorted in an angry voice. "How about you? Any odd insights?" He said in the direction of Keats, noticing he was staring at the ground.

"Oh, uh... Yeah... "Time space wedgie..." Or whatever..." Keats said as he scratched the back of his head as Anik looked at Keats.

"Were you even paying attention to what was going on?" Tamara asked as she shifted to be facing Keats.

"Uhh..." Keats muttered, unsure how to answer.

"You haven't said anything the whole time we've been in the mountain." Ambrose said.

"It's-" Keats said before getting cut off by the sound of something approaching the group.

Their attention now fixed on one of the two pathways; the group watched as someone was approaching them while running with a pair of lights emerging from the darkness. A young girl in her mid-teens wearing a light blue shirt, dark blue pants, white sneakers, a green apron with a Pokéball symbol on it, her long chestnut brown hair tied back in a ponytail and, most notably, a yellow and red baseball cap with a pair of active lights on it modelled after the head of the Legendary Fire and Flying type Pokémon, Moltres.

"Pardon me! Pardon me! Pardon me!" The teenage girl exclaimed as she ran past the group, all of whom making way by shifting to the different sides of the cave to let her pass them.

'"Who the heck was that?"' Anik, Tamara, Keats and Ambrose thought in unison as they weren't expecting to encounter another person roaming around inside Mt. Coronet.

Suddenly, a loud thumping noise and growling begun to enter the ears of the traveling party as they all shifted their heads in the direction of the route the Moltres hat wearing girl came from. Their eyes widening as they begun to notice the loud noises were getting closer and closer, sweat beginning to form on everyone's faces.

"Think we're going to go this way." Ambrose said as he pointed in the direction of the path that wasn't making any sounds.

"Agreed." Anik said with an adjustment of her glasses.

"Yes." Tamara muttered as she tightly clutched at her cane.

"Uh-huh..." Keats replied as everyone quickly started to walk down the path and away from the noise.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mt. Coronet, 12:34 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Travelling deeper into Mt. Coronet, the group made a pit stop at a cavern with a small reservoir, taking a moment to relax as Anik sat on a rock, Ambrose and Keats sat on the ground and Tamara was kneeling near the water, dipping her hand in it. Removing her sunglasses, Tamara took some of the water and splashed some of it in her face.

"Ahhh! That feels good..." Tamara muttered after wiping her face with her red jacket sleeve.

"Be careful around that water. You don't know if something is going to pop out in a cave like this." Anik said with a careful tone.

"Don't worry! If something bad happens, I got Tangela!" Tamara said with a confident voice as she put her sunglasses on and took out Tangela's Pokéball.

"Just because you have a Pokémon now doesn't mean you're indestructible. You still don't have the fullest understanding of your sensory powers." Ambrose said as Tamara pouted.

"Her mentioning Tangela reminds me; we all have to stop at a Pokémon Center as soon as we get out of this place." Anik said as everyone looked at her. "My Kingler is still somewhat tired from that battle with his Crawdaunt, plus Vigoroth's battle and now I have an unconscious Drifloon to worry about." She thought, taking mental notes as Ambrose pulled out the Pokéball containing Aipom.

"Wasn't expecting to make a catch today... At least it's a Normal type. Might take me a while to rein Aipom in though. Seems like the type to have a rebellious personality like Crawdaunt." Ambrose thought before putting the ball away as Tamara turned in the direction of Keats.

"Wonder what he's been thinking about?" Tamara thought as she decided to try and read his thoughts, focusing exclusively on Keats' brain.

"Rock." Keats thought as he looked at the ground.

"Hmmm?" Tamara muttered in confusion.

"Rock." Keats thought, mentally repeating himself. "Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock." He continued to repeat the word "rock" in his head.

"Uhhh, Keats?" Tamara said, speaking up as Anik and Ambrose turned their attention towards the blind psychic. "Why are you just repeating that word in your head?" She asked as Anik and Ambrose looked at her with confusion.

"What?" Ambrose said as he turned towards Keats.

"Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock. Rock." Keats thought, still repeating the word "rock" over and over.

"Ah! Keats!" Tamara muttered as she put her hand on her head. "Stop it!" She complained as she was beginning to have a headache.

"Hey, are you okay?" Anik said as she stood up, approaching Tamara and putting a hand on her shoulder to check on her.

"Ye-yeah... I'm good." Tamara said as she held her cane with both hands and stopped listening to what was going on in Keats' head. "He knows I don't like hearing the same word on repeat in someone's mind over and over... Is he doing that to keep me from hearing his thoughts?" She thought, curious as to why Keats was just repeating a word in his head.

"Keats, what's wrong?" Anik said as she walked over to Keats, looming over him as he sat on the ground. "You've been acting strange all day." She said with a serious look in her eyes as she bent forward.

'"All day?"' Ambrose questioned as Anik turned away from Keats. "Doesn't he act weird "every day?"' He commented while folding his arms.

"You know what I mean!" Anik said with a bothered tone towards the teenage ghost hunter before turning back towards Keats. "Something is bothering him and he's bottling it up..." She thought with concern as Tamara heard her thoughts.

"If you have something bothering you, I'm free to listen." Tamara said, speaking up as Keats sighed and then scratched his forehead for a brief moment before standing up.

"I-" Keats said to speak before suddenly getting cut off by a splashing noise.

Everyone turning their heads in surprise, the group looked onward at the cavern reservoir as they noticed something emerged from the water. A long serpentine creature had appeared, sporting red eyes with pinkish antennae above them, a small head with a straight spiked skull, long hair-like fins down the sides, a neck with black spots, a tail that ended with blue fins in a fan-like shape and a myriad of blue and pink diamond-like marks that were outlined in black on the lower body.

"Millloooo..." The serpentine Pokémon muttered upon seeing the group.

"A Milotic!" Anik exclaimed in surprise, impressed by the Pokémon's visual beauty.

"Wow, didn't expect to see one of those in here." Ambrose said casually as he made a similar face of amazement.

"Oh! I can't see it, is it pretty?!" Tamara muttered as she can sense everyone's emotional responses to the sight of the serpent-like Pokémon.

Biting his lip in annoyance, Keats made a tired expression before looking at the Milotic the group had encountered. However, the magnificent appearance of one of the world's most visually beautiful Pokémon was cut short as Anik, Ambrose and Keats made surprised faces as they noticed the Milotic had started to glare at them with violent eyes.

"Miloooottic!" Milotic muttered as it opened its mouth, a ball of orange energy appearing in front of it as everyone except for Tamara saw what it was doing.

"...Why am I sensing hostility?" Tamara said with a confused voice as she could feel an incredibly bad feeling coming from the direction of the beautiful serpent Pokémon.

"It's charging up a "Hyper Beam!"' Anik exclaimed as she grabbed Tamara by the shoulder.

"Run!" Ambrose shouted as everyone begun to run away from the Milotic.

"Tic!" Milotic screamed as it fired off an orange laser beam attack, narrowly missing the group as they ran through an entryway leading them even deeper into Mt. Coronet, a loud explosion and smoke behind them from the blast.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mt. Coronet, 3:16 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

With Tamara hunched over with a hand against the wall to support herself, Ambrose standing while slightly arched forward with his hands on his knees, Anik sitting against the rocky walls of the cave and Keats laying on his back, the group all took a moment to catch their breath as exhaustion started to set in.

"Haaaa... Haaaaa..." Ambrose breathed slowly. "So... Many... Rhyhorns..." He thought as the mental image of the group running from a pack of rock covered rhinoceros-like Pokémon appeared in his head.

"Can... We take... Another break, please?" Tamara suggested with a tired voice. "If it wasn't for Tangela's vines, we never would have gotten out of the way of that Onix..." She thought as the mental image of her Tangela using her vines as a makeshift rope for the group to escape onto a high ledge from a massive snake-like Pokémon made of stone.

"Yeah, I second that. Ugh..." Anik said while clutching at her back on the ground. "I almost died when my glasses fell off and then I made too much noise, so those Golbat's decided to attack us..." She thought as the mental image of the group searching for Anik's glasses for her impaired vision in the cave system led to them being chased by a horde of large blue bat-like Pokémon with gaping mouths.

"To be fair... This would have been just as bad if we trekked over the mountain instead of through it." Ambrose said in a tired yet defensive manner.

"How far are we from an exit?" Tamara asked as Ambrose pulled out his phone to check the time.

"The sun will be going down in a few hours... If we don't hurry, we'll have to camp inside the mountain." Ambrose thought as Tamara read his mind.

"Wait, we'll have to camp here?!" Tamara exclaimed in shock as Anik stood up.

"Whoa, whoa." Anik muttered as she put a hand on Tamara's shoulder. "Don't make so much noise, we've been dealing with too many wild Pokémon because we're not being quiet enough for them to ignore us." She explained as Tamara nodded. "Ironic..." Anik thought as she glanced at Keats, laying on his back and breathing heavily.

"Haaaaa... Haaaaa..." Keats breathed slowly.

"It's not ideal given the danger but if we have to, we have to." Ambrose said as he put away his phone and then pulled out his map of Mt. Coronet. "The map's been mostly correct... But there's no telling "how" or "when" the Space-time Distortions happen to affect the layout of the pathways. I can't tell the intervals." He thought.

"So much for "a few hours."' Anik commented with half-closed eyes at Ambrose, who winced in frustration from her statement.

"Hey, there was no telling how the weird time stuff in this place was going to screw up our ability go through it!" Ambrose exclaimed.

"Didn't one of us just say to be quieter?" Tamara said while clutching at her cane before placing a hand on her belly. "Ugh... I'm getting hungry." She said as her stomach growled in hunger.

Hearing this, Keats, still staring at the ceiling, reached into one of his two messenger bags around his body and pulled out an energy bar in a blue wrapper. Raising his arm in Tamara's general direction, the blind psychic girl begun to sense the presence of Keats' extended arm and reached out to grab what he was offering her.

"Oh!" Tamara thought as she started to open up the snack with both hands and then proceeded to take a bite of the bar. "Wow, how'd you know I like blueberry?" She asked towards Keats on the ground.

"I guessed..." Keats said, finally speaking up as Anik and Ambrose looked at him.

"He still seems upset about something but he's not so depressed that he's not concerned about everyone's health..." Anik thought as a slight smile formed on her face as she looked at the husky framed trainer. "I could go for a lemon-flavored bar. Do you have one?" She asked as Keats noticed her requesting something, shifting himself to be sitting up now.

"...Got strawberry?" Ambrose questioned as Keats reached into the same bag that he pulled out the blueberry protein bar and pulled out an additional lemon flavored one and a strawberry flavored one, extending an arm to hand them to Anik and Ambrose, respectively.

"Thank you, Keats. Appreciate it." Anik said with a sincere tone as she opened up the wrapper and took a bite.

"Yeah, same." Ambrose said with a plain voice as Keats still sat on the ground.

"You're not going to eat one with us?" Tamara said as she sensed a protein bar in everyone's hands except for Keats.

"I'm not hungry right now..." Keats replied with a low tone as Ambrose and Anik looked at him.

"Hey." Ambrose said, catching everyone's attention. "You were going to say something earlier, what was it?" He asked as Anik raised an eyebrow towards the teenage ghost hunter.

"Surprised that he was the one to ask." Anik thought, not expecting Ambrose to show concern as Ambrose looked at Tamara, who was similarly surprised.

"If I have to pal around with these guys, I'd rather there not be any tension." Ambrose thought, explaining his motivation for asking about Keats' wellbeing.

"...Let's just get moving..." Keats said as he stood up from the ground, suggesting they all continue.

"Well, we're taking a break right now." Anik said as Keats looked at the astronomy enthusiast. "I can tell he's trying to avoid talking..." She thought as Tamara read her mind.

"Yeah, I'm kind of tired. Can't we just hold still a bit longer?" Tamara said as Keats shifted his eyes towards the blind psychic girl. "Maybe... You can say what you were going to say earlier...?" She continued in an effort to get Keats to open up about what's causing his down attitude.

"...Every time I open my mouth to talk in here, something bad has almost happened... So, I'd rather not..." Keats said to the group, opting to still remain quiet about his issue.

"...That's technically true." Ambrose said as he opened up his protein bar and took a bite, Anik glaring at him. "What?" He said upon noticing Anik's expression.

"Faster we get out here, the better..." Keats said as he wanted to keep moving, walking away from the group in the direction they were heading.

"...Hey, "space-girl."' Ambrose said towards Anik as everyone finished their protein bars. "What's wrong with him?" He asked. "I mean, probably a lot of things but I more so mean with his attitude right now." Ambrose said, clarifying.

"If I had any idea, I'd tell you..." Anik said with a concerned tone as she walked away from the ghost hunting duo.

"Hmmmm..." Tamara muttered in similar concern as she clutched her cane tightly with both hands.

"You worried about him too?" Ambrose thought, mentally sending a question to Tamara as the blind psychic girl nodded as she walked forward while tracing her cane along the ground as Ambrose sighed, placing his hand on her shoulder to help her along the trail.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Mt. Coronet, 8:04 p.m. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Several hours had passed since they took a break, and the traveling group was still inside of Mt. Coronet and were now forced to camp out along the pathway they were taking. With a fire set up to provide light, Anik, Ambrose and Tamara were all asleep within sleeping bags as Keats was awake, sitting on his infamous Pineco sleeping bag and staring at the fire while holding a soda can in his hand.

"Haaaa..." Keats sighed amongst the quietness as Keats looked over at Anik's handbag before taking a swig of his drink.

Placing the can down, Keats reached his hand over to Anik's bag, rummaging around for a few seconds inside until finding what he was looking for. Pulling out Rotom's offline phone body, Keats stood up from the camp as quietly as possible and walked away from the group, leaving behind his bags and taking a flashlight with him. Getting a far enough distance from the group to where they couldn't possibly hear him, Keats found a small indent in the wall of the cave and wedged Rotom's phone body so Keats could see his reflection while propping up the flashlight.

"Hi Keats." Keats said to his reflection.

"Hi Keats." Keats' reflection said to Keats.

"Well... This sucks..." Keats said to his reflection as Keats started a conversation with himself.

"You're talking to yourself in the reflection of this dumb phone. How much worse can you be?" Keats' reflection said with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, don't judge me! I've heard therapists, when they are in need of mental health assistance, talk to themselves in the mirror all the time." Keats said with a sure voice as he pointed at his reflection.

"...What happens when the mirror breaks?" Keats' reflection questioned as Keats opened his mouth to talk but was unsure of how to answer. "I bet they say "my mirror is in the shop" when people ask how they're doing. Hehehe." The reflection joked as Keats smiled, thinking that was funny.

"Hehehe- damn it, we're getting off topic!" Keats laughed before getting back on track.

"You know, this might be a lot less weird if you just talked to the others instead of me." Keats' reflection said as Keats bit his lip.

"You are me!" Keats said to his reflection in a harsh voice.

"And you can talk to them instead." Keats' reflection said with a snarky tone.

"I don't wanna..." Keats said with a sad tone.

"Aaaaand thaaaattt's beeecaaaaausse?" Keats' reflection questioned.

"It'll make me feel worse by dragging them down with my sad issues..." Keats replied in a frustrated voice.

"Sourpuss..." Keats' reflection said as Keats looked at himself.

"Jerkwad..." Keats said to his own reflection.

"Okay then, what's the problem that's got you so low?" Keat's reflection asked.

"...You don't know? You know what's going on." Keats said with a confused tone.

"Yes." Keats' reflection said bluntly as a weird silence permeated the conversation between Keats and himself. "Or you could turn on Rotom and talk to it or-" The reflection said until getting cut off by Keats.

"No." Keats said bluntly with half-closed eyes.

"Yeah, I wouldn't either." Keats' reflection agreed as Keats sighed before rubbing his eyes with his left hand.

"I..." Keats muttered.

"First step in facing a problem is to acknowledge there is one..." Keats' reflection said as Keats shook his head.

"...I'm bad at this..." Keats said with an honest tone.

"At what?" Keats' reflection questioned further.

"You know! Don't make me have to say it out loud!" Keats said as he stood up, his reflection disappearing from the phone.

"I'm now a talking reflection of your leg." Keats' reflection said but without a face and now is just a reflection of Keats' knee.

"S-sorry..." Keats said defensively to the reflection of himself as he got back down to make the reflections face return. "I am... Not a good Pokémon trainer..." He said, finally admitting his issue.

"Okay..." Keats' reflection said with his head nodding.

"...Aren't you going to say anything?" Keats said while squinting his eyes at his reflection.

"Don't have to, I already know how this conversation is going to go." Keats' reflection replied as Keats rolled his eyes.

"Just play along..." Keats said to his reflection as the reflection shrugged in response. "I've been a trainer for a decent amount of time now. I should feel like I am confident about where I'm at but..." He said as Keats' reflection just looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"...But a lot has happened in such a short period." Keats' reflection said as Keats looked at himself in the phone screen.

"...I blame Oranguru..." Keats said while folding his arms.

"No..." Keats' reflection said.

'"No?" Okay... I blame Stunfisk then..." Keats said with an unsure tone of who to blame for his issues.

"Can't blame that thing either. You can only blame yourself for that opinion." Keats' reflection said with half-closed eyes, unimpressed by Keats. "The whole reason you're even a trainer is because you wanted to chase down the Snagem Family and save your sister's Pokémon that you let get stolen." The reflection explained as Keats bit his lip. "That's a noble cause but it's hardly a driving force behind why you even own any of your Pokémon." Keats' reflection elaborated further.

"You make it sound like it's not a decent reason! To make up for a past mistake!" Keats said to his reflection in a defiant voice.

"It is a decent reason... For someone with passion to train Pokémon." Keats' reflection said. "Think about those three over there." The reflection said as it pointed back in the direction of where Ambrose, Anik and Tamara were.

"...I know where you're going with this..." Keats thought in a depressing manner.

"The grouchy kid with the Ghost type problem wants to keep people safe from something that he finds to be a serious issue. The little eyeless girl who can read minds wants to become a champion despite not being able to see. The hot lady with the messy hair and glasses that we secretly keep staring at wants to find all the constellations and catch the Pokémon they match with. They have a purpose for themselves and their Pokémon." Keats' reflection explained while describing each of Keats' companion in a slightly inaccurate manner.

"Hey, don't tell me you're checking her out, I'm the one who asked for a date from her... That she rejected and then I lit the letter saying so on fire." Keats said with a bothered expression on his face.

"...Have you found it odd she hasn't slapped us once?" Keats' reflection questioned while scratching its beard.

"I was shocked she came all the way from Alola just to see me. I'd almost assume she likes me." Keats said with his arms folded.

"I like my girls a little bit older... And smarter than me... Plus, remember that lab coat she was in when we met her in Alola? Damn, how attractive did she-" Keats' reflection said with a sure tone until ironically getting cut off by himself.

"Enough, the chances are slim of that going anywhere." Keats said to himself, trying to steer the conversation back on track. "You said something about "passion?"' He asked towards his reflection.

"Oh right." Keats' reflection said with an embarrassed face. "As I was saying, they have something they're passionate about that's fueling their desire to be better trainers. They want to grow with their Pokémon for that purpose. You don't have that level of drive." The reflection explained as Keats winced.

"...I won a tournament and got back two of Marie's Pokémon... Three, if you want to get technical with this Birdclaw dude sending back her Steelix. How much more committed do I need to be as a trainer when I am out here for someone else's sake?" Keats said defensively.

"Bingo, there's your problem." Keats' reflection remarked.

"Huh?" Keats muttered in response.

"You won a tournament because you found something you liked and focused on it. You didn't do it for Marie, you did it for yourself." Keats' reflection said with a critical voice. "You liked those "small damage over time" moves like Pineco using "Spikes," Gurdurr knowing "Poison Jab" and Druddigon's ability to cause damage in bits. You wanted to win at that point because you wanted to win, not just because you wanted to save Marie's Pokémon." It said as Keats listened.

"Oh, so I should just be an egomaniac?" Keats replied with an annoyed look in his eyes.

"I'm not saying you should be overconfident. I'm saying you should be out in Sinnoh looking to fight Birdclaw because you want to kick his ass for stealing your sister's Pokémon plus that weirdo challenged you." Keats' reflection said.

"...Easier said than done..." Keats said with a quiet and frustrated tone.

"You liked those "chipping" moves. You made a strategy around them with your Pokémon and that's what allowed you to beat Carter and rescue Lopunny. You even managed to deal with that Stunfisk that was trying to kill you, it almost let you even catch it, but you ran out of Pokéballs." Keats' reflection said.

"...They still haven't found that plane." Keats mentally commented.

"Then you screwed up royally against Imani because you didn't plan around anything on your own like you did the first time when you were more invested. You could have proved that one smart-alecky Pokémon wrong about his opinion of you." Keats' reflection said with furrowed brows.

"Well... Anik and Rotom just seemed to go with the flow and wound up supporting whatever Oranguru wanted us to do. I couldn't control what that intellectual douchebag wanted." Keats replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, because you didn't offer any alternatives except to listen to it. I bet if you actually came up with a solid idea, do your "thinking pose" or whatever, and come up with a better plan on your own, you'd have that Oranguru in a Pokéball and it would've been following your commands and not the other way around." Keats' reflection said with a critical tone. "Remember? It took one of your balls and directly told you that it would allow you to catch it if it felt you were worthy enough to be its trainer. It wouldn't have said that if you didn't have the potential." The reflection continued.

"...Why would I want a dumb thing like that roaming around me?" Keats said while looking away from his reflection.

"Because you knew it was a strong as hell Pokémon that was wise and probably could have helped train your other Pokémon. You know that." Keats' reflection said, judging Keats. "Then look what happened: you gave a mediocre performance against Imani which left Oranguru to do your job for you to get back Sableye and proved itself right." The reflection said with a harsh tone.

"...I-" Keats said to try and counter until getting cut off.

"Not even counting the stuff Oranguru said or what Imani said, what really hurt was Diglett up and leaving you because she didn't feel connected to us at all." Keats' reflection said with a loud tone, further hammering the frustrations Keats was feeling. "It's bad enough we kept running around like an idiot from Stunfisk or just having that Oranguru talk smack about us and not doing anything about it... The fact we just let Diglett leave, without a second thought to protest or even try to do more. That's really sloppy work on our part." The reflection continued to rant. "And now there's a Honchkrow trying to steal our stuff because we didn't do a better job at trying to stop it from being a straight up jerk of a Pokémon, which would have happened if we caught it back home." Keats' reflection said.

"...Could you calm yourself- I mean, myself down? You're getting hysterical." Keats said with his hands up.

"Then there's Surskit. Willing to listen in battle but the moment we sent it to Johto, it kept attempting murder! We didn't even try and raise that thing after you caught it!" Keats' reflection said, continuing to monologue about Keats' failures. "Maybe if we got really lucky, you could have done more to get that Pokémon in line. Then we would have had a perfectly good "fight hungry" Pokémon to train with!" The reflection said further.

"Look, we made a good decision to trade it in the Wonder Trader. Sizzlipede has been a way calmer Pokémon for us to handle and we kept her from living in a furnace." Keats said while pointing at his reflection.

"...Would Honchkrow have been an easy Pokémon to handle?" Keats' reflection said as Keats bit his lip, remembering what happened earlier that day when he froze up. "Our experience with raising Pokémon is miniscule... Our day job is to help do that, and we still do it poorly. We have a decent amount of Pokémon to our name, and we somehow still can't raise them to be strong after all this time." The reflection said.

"...What do you want me to say?" Keats questioned with a sad tone.

'"Keats is a bad Pokémon trainer."' Keats' reflection said. "We're roaming around Sinnoh seriously attempting to find a guy who beat six gyms without even using Marie's Pokémon. He's going to want a battle and he's going to be horribly disappointed." The reflection said with both hands on its head in the screen. "...We're never going to be able to pull this off the way we are... Do you see how this is all connected?" Keats' reflection asked.

"...I..." Keats muttered, not sure how to answer.

"The losing streak against trainers, the Pokémon we can't handle, the mediocrity of our skill level in the face of a challenge, the constant belittling... All of it layering on top of each other... We are a bad trainer... What are we going to do about it?" Keats' reflection said with a serious look in its eyes towards Keats as he made an unnerved expression.

"That's- huh?" Keats said until he heard a rather strange noise coming from the direction of the pathway leading away from his sleeping companions. "Um... What was that?" He asked towards his reflection.

"...Uhhh... I don't know..." Keats' reflection remarked as Keats grabbed Rotom's offline phone body and put it in his pocket, finally ending the strange conversation before picking up the flashlight.

Swallowing spit and checking to see if he had his Pokémon on him, Keats stepped into the darkness of the cave to find out what that noise was, walking several meters until he noticed an unfamiliar bright light had appeared at the end of the pathway. Turning off the flashlight and approaching it with a hand in front of his face to block it from blinding him, Keats' eyes widened as he noticed the pathway from which his group came from had changed into a large cavern with multiple stalactites at the top of it and stalagmites at the bottom.

"What the hell?" Keats thought as he looked on at the new location within Mt. Coronet. "Is this one of those "time wedgie" things that Ambrose ment- ahh!" He said aloud to himself until noticing there wasn't any more space to walk, resulting in Keats ended up sliding down the side of the wall into the cavern. "Duh! Gahf! Hruh!" Keats grunted before landing on the ground below the entryway.

Clutching his head in minor annoyance as he was on his knees, Keats began to hear a noise that sounded similar to thunder as he looked up and saw that the cavern was giving off a mysterious blue energy and crackles of white electricity was spreading throughout the cave. Nervous and unsure of how to act, Keats ran over to a nearby rock and hid behind it, hoping the white lightning bolts weren't going to strike him.

"Okay, this is really scary! What the heck is going on?!" Keats thought as he darted his head left and right.

Suddenly, some of the white lightning bolts struck the ground and out of the flashes of light, Pokémon begun to appear from out of nowhere to Keats' surprise. Emerging from the flashes was over a dozen small Pokémon that had shark-like heads with stubby arms and legs, red underbellies, a top fin and grey bodies.

'"Gible! Gible!"' The wild Pokémon exclaimed as some started to look around and others begun to devour nearby rocks.

"That's concerning... The heck are those things?" Keats thought in worry until another flash of light occurred.

Appearing from the new flash of light was a large grey-ish blue monstrous creature with a similar head to the small and stubby shark-like Pokémon, sporting a very tall body with spikes, a yellow star-like mark on the front of its face, a large fin on its back, a finned tail and a wing on each arm that ended in a white spike. In front of it was a very rotund and peculiar yellow Pokémon that appeared with sparkles around its body, sporting stubby arms and legs, black dot-like eyes, a trio of yellow lines on its belly under a white bib-like pattern, a curl on top and a tail.

"Gaaarch!" The intimidating blue monster Pokémon screamed out.

"Lickilicky!" The yellow round Pokémon said with a smile on its face.

Rushing at the rotund Pokémon, the intimidating blue monster Pokémon charged up green energy into its left arm and attempted to swipe at the yellow Pokémon with a newly formed glowing green claw. In response, the rotund Pokémon stuck out its rather large tongue that begun to charge up with pink energy.

"Licki!" The yellow round Pokémon said as it intercepted the opposing Pokémon's attack with a hard swing of its tongue into the side of its head.

With immense force, the intimidating blue monster Pokémon was sent flying a great distance and ended up half-way across the cavern until slamming into a nearby cave column. Falling down onto the ground, the once intimidating blue Pokémon was struggling to get to its feet as the smaller shark-like Pokémon all rushed to try and check on it.

"Gaaaarch-chomp..." The once intimidating blue monster Pokémon said until passing out, its eyes swirling to signify its unconscious state.

'"Gible! Gible! Gible!"' The dozen small shark-like Pokémon all muttered in worry.

"Lickilickilickilickilicki!" The yellow rotund Pokémon laughed as Keats watched as it gloated over its triumphant victory.

"Holy Miltanks that was a strong hit..." Keats thought with amazement at the power of the yellow rotund Pokémon. "Wait... It's yellow like pee and it's actually a really powerfully cool Pokémon... Forget the ghost hunters, this is the real "Lit Piss!"' He thought as the mysterious round Pokémon put its stubby hands on its sides in a showing of utter confidence.


Someone needs to buy Keats some meds... One for depression symptoms and the other for... Schizophrenia. Entering into Mt. Coronet, the group of Keats, Anik, Ambrose and Tamara begin their daunting trial of traversing the inside of the mountain and its maze-like structure. But one member of the party has his mind elsewhere as he is mentally battling an issue of his drive and commitment to his reason for being there. After narrowly dodging being killed by a crazy Milotic and other wild Pokémon, the group stops for a break to sleep off the fatigue... And Keats proves he's still weird as he has a very introspective conversation with himself in Rotom's offline phone reflection, acknowledging his constant failure at the current juncture. But a Space-time Distortion halts Keats' turmoil for now as a large and confident Pokémon had just beaten the tar out of a very scary looking Pokémon. What will happen next? Only one way to find out... Stay tuned...

Keats' Pokémon:
1. Pineco.
2. Stunky.
3. Porygon.
4. Venonat.
5.
Dragalge.
6.
Cloyster.

In rotation:
1. Raichu - Alolan Form.
2. Druddigon.
3. Sizzlipede.
4. Gurdurr.
5. Swalot.

Released/Traded away:
1.
Diglett - Alolan Form.
2. Surskit.

Anik's Pokémon:
1. Kingler.
2. Cleffa.
3. Oricorio - Baile Style.
4. Minior - Green Core.
5. Vigoroth.
6. Drifloon.

Ambrose's Pokémon:
1. Furret.
2. Crawdaunt.
3. Dodrio.
4. Helioptile.
5. Aipom.

Tamara's Pokémon:
1. Tangela.

Author's Note: (Awhile back I mentioned Keats' physique in a note to clarify something about his appearance and how he has a similar build to Gordie, the Rock gym leader from Sword/Shield. I'm going to do another one here: this time on Anik. If anyone has ever wondered what her physical inspiration was, look up a character from a very heartwarming yet sadly obscure anime called "How to Keep a Mummy." The physical inspiration for Anik's appearance and design is very similar to the aunt of the main character of that story, Kaede Kashiwagi. She has the same type of conservative fashion sense, the same pretty face but with glasses and the "messy hair" look that's constantly brought up about her is the same as Kaede but replace the white hair and purple highlights of Kaede with the blonde and red highlights that Anik sports. Just a little thing I'd bring up. Oh, and my usual "ideas guy" I tend to bounce ideas off to likes to refer to Anik as "Le Frumpy Waifu" sometimes lol.)