"Florian! Florian!" As Florian was leaving the contest hall with Skeledirge Julianna came running towards him.
Florian was somewhat surprised to see her. He hadn't spoken to her since he revealed himself to be in Team Star.
"Are you okay?"
"Arven went and challenged the next Titan on his own Nashi's there already but he's going to need help. I'd go myself but I just finished my gym battle and my team needs to rest so I'm asking you" Julianna handed him Koraidon's Pokeball.
"I'll do it," Florian said without hesitation sending out Don to get there faster.
"Where am I supposed to go?"
"The Asado Desert looks like a giant robotic Donphan you can't miss it"
"On it. Go Koraidon Mush! Mush! Mush!" Koraidon took off running at top speed Florian barely held onto his feather tassels when he jumped through the undergrowth.
"Wait metal Donphan the fucks that supposed to mean?" Florian wondered as Don cleared the mountain and raced onto the sand.
Florian got the answer when he came to a large overhang.
Rolling across the sand was a strange robotic Donphan rolled around with Rapid Spin trying to attack Dudunsparce.
"Alright, Don charge!" Koraidon leaped off the cliff landing on top of the Donphan which threw him off easily.
With a robotic Donphan cry the beast went for an Iron Head on Nashi's Dudunsparce,
"Skeledirge use Torch Song!" Florian sent out his ace to throw off the Donphan.
With the beast down for a moment Florian took the chance to see if the Pokedex had anything on it.
"Iron Threads the Paradox Pokémon Ground/Steel no information is known about this Pokémon"
Well, that would explain the Torch Song doing that much but what kind of a name was Iron Threads and he still had no idea what the thing was aside from its name and type.
Nashi's Yanmega and Dudunsparce struck the Iron Threads with Flamethrower and Air Slash Iron Threads sent them flying back with Wild Charge.
"Skeledirge come back!" Florian swapped out Skeledirge Naclstack and Arboliva.
"Oy! You over here!" Florian whistled to get the Iron Treads' attention.
Iron Treads struck Arboliva with an Iron Head activating her Seed Sower ability and creating a grassy terrain on the battlefield.
"Nashi go and get Arven!" Nashi slid around the Iron Threads to get to the quivering Arven who was pushed up against the rock face.
"Arven? Arven? What's wrong can you talk to me?" Nashi tried in a soothing voice.
Arven continued to shake and sob violently.
Arboliva struck Iron Threads with an Energy Ball boosted by grassy terrain well Naclstack struck it with Salt Cure slowly chipping its health away.
Losing interest in them Iron Threads ran at Nashi knocking out Yanmega with Wild Charge.
Nashi threw out Arven's Scovillian which held back Iron Treads with Fire Fang.
Iron Threads looked like it had already been damaged from Nashi's earlier efforts.
Now was time for them to finish it off quickly.
"Arboliva use Energy Ball!" the energy ball got Iron Thread's attention attacking her again with Iron Head.
Naclstack leaped into the air slamming down onto Iron Treads with its new move Body Press.
Well, its back was turned to face Florian's team Nashi sent out his Sunflora who set up a Sunny Day.
With a Flamethrower from Arvens Scovillian and Dudunsparce powered up by the sun followed by a Solar Beam and another Energy Ball and Body Press Iron Treads collapsed into the sand with a tremendous thud its own weight collapsing it into the sand.
With the Titan vanquished Florian was finally able to get over to Arven.
"Is he okay?"
"Don't know when we encountered the titan he just got all shaky and when it ate the herbs and charged at us he just broke down like this"
"Alrighty then another Titan down let's get cooking!" Arven got up and walked into the cave where Iron Threads got the Herba Mystica.
"Come out come out wherever you are!" Arven called cheerfully.
"There's no way that he just alrighty," Florian remarked.
"I think he's trying to disassociate whatever caused that reaction to Iron Threads" Nashi explained.
"Yes found it here's our little herb" Arven held out the pale orange plant that smelt like a strong artificial lemon.
"This shape this sheen it'll taste horrible, which means it's gotta be good for you" Arven laughed.
Florian was slightly concerned that Arven knew that this thing was already gonna taste awful as he prepared the food.
"Alright, Mabosstiff come out Food's ready" Out of Pokeball Mabosstiff seemed more lively than the last time sitting with his head up eyeing the sandwich.
"Well somebody has a proper appetite" Arven smiled well Mabosstiff steadily ate the sandwich.
Don of course scarfed down the entire sandwich in one gulp regaining some of his strength back with a burst of pink energy.
The sandwich was extremely sour maybe because he was a sweets person but most people wouldn't like a lemon-tasting sandwich
"Well it seems like you're both nearly back to you're full strength," Arven remarked happily as Mabosstiff whimpered and pawed at Arven's foot.
"It seems like you're physically strong but maybe theirs a mental block"
"Mental block?" Nashi asked as he slipped half of his sandwich to Dundunsparce and Sunflora.
"Maybe theirs some sort of mental hurdle they need to overcome until they're ready to battle again"
At the mention of battling Koraidon started cowering his head feathers folding down to his head and hiding behind the bench Florian was sitting on.
"That's what I mean I don't know what happened in the brute's past but something caused him and Mabosstiff to have trauma from battling and they need to overcome this if they want to return to their full strength. Clearly, we still have a long way to go before that"
Florian felt it was ironic that Arven could explain all of this and yet not see he was doing the same thing.
He also knew that Arven wasn't telling them the truth about what happened with Mabosstiff and Arven clearly knew that they knew.
But that didn't matter at the moment what was important was that they only had one herb to go and hopefully finish all of this madness.
Julianna was sent a photo by Nashi of him and Florian with the herb-infused sandwich with Mabosstiff and Koraidon in the background.
Julianna-Dios Mio Nashi that went over well.
Nashi-Ya the sandwich tastes awful though I didn't think lemon tastes good on bread
Julianna-How's Arven?
Nashi-Well, he's gotten all cheery again neither of us feels like trying to dissect that right now.
Julianna-Alright call me when you two get back.
By now the crowds in Montenevera had dispersed by sunset. Cherry was going to help Nashi with catching something to beat Steel-types since the Iron Treads had shown him that he struggled against the type.
So that left Julianna with Toedscruel and Armarouge on the streets of Montenevera.
Julianna felt a sharp pain in her foot lifting her foot she saw a small cut on the bottom of her foot.
Poking out of the ground was a tip of something metal.
"Hijo de puta who leaves this lying around?" Julianna cursed as she pulled the metal object out of the ground.
She was met with loud screeching and hissing as it was revealed the metal object was an Arctibax with the steel Tera Jewel on its head.
The Ice Fin Pokémon charged at Armarouge with Dragon Claw. Rebelde was easily able to counter it with Psyshock but he seemed amused by its attempt.
Getting back up the Arctibax made a run at Armarouge and Toedscruel again with Ice Fang. Toedscruel went for a Spore putting it to sleep well Armarouge went for a Lava Plume causing the Tera Jewl to burst off her head knocking her out.
Julianna was left puzzled by what a Pokémon with a unique Tera type was doing out here when she felt her bag light up.
Already recovered from her battle the Arctibax touched its nose to one of her pokeballs catching herself.
Toedscruel seemed just as shocked as her well Armarouge seemed to find it amusing.
Well, Julianna had inadvertently caught her So that meant with the arrival of Titanio the Arctibax Julianna had a complete team.
"Huh she caught a pseudo-legendary that's neat," Florian remarked to Arboliva and Naclstack when Julianna sent him a picture of the ice dragon
"Naclstack?" Florian hadn't noticed until now but Naclstack had been slightly vibrating.
"Something wrong Salada you can tell me?"
Not being able to hold it in anymore Naclstack began glowing a bright blue standing up on two legs and gaining several more layers of salt the light vanished revealing Salada as a Garganacl.
"Wait have you been waiting to evolve since the Iron Treads battle?"
"Garg-nacl" Salada nodded.
Beside her, Arboliva seemed uneasy about the sudden transformation but considering she had known Salada she was less nervous than normal.
"Were you waiting to evolve because you thought it was too chaotic?"
"Garg-nac!" Garganacl replied again seeming happy with her new evolution.
End Credit song-Summer Nights by SIAMES
Sorry this chapter took so long I was feeling burnt out after Christmas but I should hopefully be back to a more normal update schedule