Chapter 56: Recruit and Rebalance
Summary:
With their Rescue Team mission done, Dialga sends the team home. The team gets the chance for a few days of rest, leading into the Power of One. While Zeryph takes the free time to visit some important places and Pokemon. As well as getting some new quests and doing a stats rework.
Notes:
So I was thinking about maaaybe doing a small cross thing with Palworld. I…don't know for sure if I even will do much more than have one or two characters cross over into Zeryph's storyline by way of System event. I'd like to hear what y'all think, of course. If crossing over doesn't work, I could use it as an alternate timeline thing instead. Pretty safe to say that the System gives Zeryph a huge advantage, with him having it under his control now. So if he were to cross worlds, his team wouldn't necessarily have to go with him.
Now, whether or not any Pals would join the team, I dunno…maaaybe. And that's a very strong maybe, too, given how the two worlds are very different.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
[I woke up to the sound of a tray table being set up. Lexie leaned down as soon as my eyes opened, and pulled me up into a kiss. She smiled warmly as we separated, then went back to work on what she was doing.
"Hey, Mr. Hero. Did ya sleep well?" She asked softly. "You were out like a light. I figured you'd want to sleep in this morning, after all the stuff yesterday."
"I was." I pushed myself up and stretched. "Thanks for letting me sleep in, this morning. I really needed the rest. Fortunately, I think we're gonna have a few easy days for a while."
"Sounds great. So…Ferrum trip? Even if it's winter, back home, a vacation would do us some good." Lexie finished setting up my breakfast, and sat down with me.
"Yeah. I was thinking we'd join up with Ash's group for a few days. We won't be doing any Orange Island league stuff." We're joining up with his group because the "Power of One" is very close to happening. "There's something major coming up, and hopefully…it won't be as bad as Deoxys. Still, once that's done, I'll get us a vacation trip set up."
"Hopefully not as bad as New Island, either. But we won't know until it happens." Lexie kissed my cheek, then went to get up. "Enjoy your breakfast. I'll go tell everyone that you're up." She started downstairs, while I began to dig in. And after breakfast, I began to go through the morning routine. Taking the dishes back to the kitchen were part of that, this time.
And as I finished up with the routine, I changed into my human form once again. Changing my outfit for something clean, that would work in winter. Not anything heavy, given how my team handles cold much better now. My parents got plenty of time to say their goodbyes, and dad even offered to keep our Rescue Team running for us. I was happy to hear that, as it meant that even without us around, they would continue to help out for us.
Once my team was ready to go, we stepped into the outside world. Alakazam's team was waiting outside the outpost, so they caught an unintentional glimpse at my human form. But their friendly greetings showed what they thought. Alakazam understood our decision to head home. He and his teammates each shared a handshake with me, one after the other.
"Zeryph, you've done so much in a relatively short time. We're all going to remember you as a Legendary hero, I'm sure." Alakazam said, smiling. "Go, return to your time. And know that we'll help your parents manage this rescue team as long as we are able." His teammates nodded in agreement.
"Thanks, gents. Take care of everyone for us." I said. "Hey, Dialga, mind if I say my goodbyes to the rest of the village first?" I asked him. He had arrived shortly after my team and I left our base dimension.
"Go ahead. And…you may stay in this form. I feel like it's only right that they get to see their hero for what he really is." Dialga smiled. "A caring human worthy of the title of Chosen. Go on, say your goodbyes."
"Dialga's right, you know." Charizard spoke up. "C'mon, we'll walk with you. I kinda want to see how everyone reacts to…this." He made a gesture with one of his clawed hands, then chuckled. "Magic is an incredible thing. Would be nice if there was a communication spell or something that would let us call you in case of an emergency."
"Ya know…there might be one, actually." I said to him as we began to walk to the square. "Mom and dad should be taught it for sure. And as for your team, Alakazam would be the only one who can use it." I started to look for such a spell right away. Since there didn't seem to be one, I had to create it from scratch, using the System. Dialga had to help out with it since it needs to cross time to work, but he was happy to have it set up.
As we walked into the square, the folks fell silent for a moment as they all turned my way. Then I felt myself being mobbed by small, excited Pokemon. Some weren't as small of course, like aunt Kangaskhan, but still. I laughed and returned what hugs I could. They were all saddened to hear that I had to leave now. Even Granbull, who had recently evolved after the cave where Whiscash was had opened up.
Lombre took a bit of time to talk over his own possibility of evolving, and not liking it because of what he could become as a Ludicolo. I set his mind at ease when I said that it doesn't affect the personality as much as he thinks. Taking a little time to share how Kaorah and I had grown up together. I told Lombre that he shouldn't go because I said it wasn't as bad as he thought. Instead, I told him that he should only go if he feels like he's absolutely ready.
Kaorah was also excellent for talking to him about this. I left the pair to talk for a little bit, since Kaorah had evolved as the two of us were growing up together. Our training had been enough to cause it, but was nowhere near as intense as it is nowadays. While they were left to talk, Alakazam's team took me around the square to see everyone. Even going as far as the post office. I used that time to get the word to the Rescue Team organization. That my parents were taking charge of operations here.
When we stopped at Makuhita's dojo, I was offered a free run for the highest tier ticket, so I accepted it. Shifting into my Lucario form and stretching as I adjusted. Smiling at the awed reactions of those who saw me change form. Before proceeding to breeze through the Fighting-Type floor with ease. A lot more ease than the last time I ran it. But not once did I use my powers, just physical strength. With the only exception being Sacred Sword.
It was fun, and Makuhita's employed fighters picked up on how I was just wanting to have a little bit of fun before I went home. So they worked towards that, by giving me the feeling of breezing through a crowd of enemies. Sure it meant they had to pretend to be knocked out in one hit, but it was still fun for all of us.
Following that was an encounter with a Munchlax who was passing through the square. Instead of just giving him an apple though, I shared some of the inventory food stored from previously. True to the nature of my inventory, it was still like it had been freshly made. It's so nice, being able to keep food in stasis…pretty much. I know I've mentioned it before, but still.
The reminder that Lexie wouldn't be around to run her bar was a little bit of a downer, but Dialga was willing to allow her to travel here to run it at any time. When we don't need her for battles, or if she's not traveling with us. This was another point towards setting up my base portal to allow the team to time shift at will. That way Dialga wouldn't need to help us with it. However, we could only go to a time where we've already been, and only to the future. Going to somewhere in the past like Hisui, for example, would be too risky to set up something like this.
Still, once I had said my goodbyes, my team, plus Alex, grouped up with me. Dialga then flared his power, and the world blurred. In an instant, we went from Pokemon Square, to Pallet Town. Which is fine with me, as we can take some time to do whatever we need to for supplies before we join Ash and his group.
I might wait a few days before we do. We still have extra time before the Power of One. I know I've been mentioning it a lot recently, but it's a very important series of events. One of the most important ones being the meeting with Lugia, well, one of them. There's the female one who's going to go shadow, and the pair's son…Silver. But Team Rocket has disbanded, so…I wonder who it is that's gonna push the female to that point. Team Cipher, maybe, but it's not necessarily likely.
Back to the present though, the first thing I did once we were back, was get the formality for Alex out of the way. Officially bringing him into the team. Much like with Latias, I got him a custom ball. One that was black and purple with some red and blue markings done as accents. The red marks for his claws, the blue marks for his ears. I'll be switching everyone over to custom designs in the future, actually. An idea that Melanie suggested after she had seen what I got for Latias.
We didn't hang around for long, as I pulled open a rift once we had adjusted to being home. We all stepped through, one at a time, shifting over into the Mt. Silver Pokemon Center. Where I found myself being nearly knocked off my feet by Liz, who wrapped me in a very tight hug.
"It's bad enough that Latias feels the need to slam into me just about any time we've been separated for a while. Don't make your own habit out of it." I got some laughs in response.
"No promises, especially if you're gonna be away for a good while." Liz pulled away, smiling. "So, how did everything go?"
"Other than some rough patches, the whole mission went really well." I started to smile, myself. "But yeah, we're done. Dialga has pretty much cleared us to jump back and forth at will now, so there's that." I decided I wasn't gonna mention the encounter with Turo. "I've also done some training, over the past week."
"Well, while you were doing that, nothing exciting happened for me…at all. Well, there was one thing. Melanie's been cleared to undergo the advanced medical training, so whenever she wants to start on that, she can." Liz moved over to sit down, and I went to sit with her. "And, by the way, you owe me a date, too."
"You're not the only one." Kaorah spoke up. "Zeryph was gonna take me to Ferrum, for one."
"A vacation, this time of year?" Liz asked, then shrugged. "Eh…I mean, can't blame you…really. After the mission you were sent on, plus the tournament and everything…you could all use some proper down time. Still, Ferrum's nice, if a bit expensive. It's not as expensive as Aeos though, if you're not running in their league."
"Well, for now, we have a few days between our return, and the next major event. I was thinking I should let everyone get at least a little rest, between then and now." I didn't have to worry as much around Liz as far as sharing timeline stuff worked. In fact, she's at the top of the list of consideration for the Time Walker class, and maybe even a Player Two designation. Now that I can give one out, anyway.
"Then everyone gets a big vacation once that's out of the way. That's a good idea, actually. And since there's a few days of free time, you still owe me that dinner, too." Liz smiled. "But I'm gonna guess that you want to take Kaorah out first, right?"
"Yeah, so she gets two Ferrum trips, really. A day there, then a full vacation. Still, we can use the time for our date to also set ourselves up to stay there for…a week, maybe more." I felt Kaorah nuzzle my right cheek. "But for today, everyone, settle down and rest for a while. As for me, I've got some folks to go visit."
"So you're gonna be busy, again?" Mewtwo asked.
"Nothing serious this time, other than traveling around. I've got two in particular that I want to go see, Xerneas and Zeraora." I figured it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and visit Xerneas, since I could really just go to meet her at any time. And as for Zeraora, think it's about time I pay him a visit, too. Could also get my Cameran Palace and Lucario Kingdom stuff out of the way, but I'm gonna wait a bit longer. Especially since they're both tied to major events in some way. If I'm remembering that right, anyway. I know about Mystery of Mew, and I might have a solution for that.
I don't have to worry about it for now, at least. Currently, focus should be mainly on preparing for Power of One, then some down time in Ferrum while Ash's group finishes up the Orange Islands. While the others settled in, I stepped outside, channeling my power and opening a rift. I decided to do Kalos first, since I could pop up at the Tower of Mastery. My sudden arrival startled Korrina, who visibly jumped at the sound of the rift opening.
"Don't…do that." She said, with a strong glare.
"My bad. Can't really control if the rifts open near someone or not." I said. The rift closed behind me, and I closed my eyes before starting to slow my breathing. "Now, I need to focus. I'm here in Kalos for someone specifically."
"Oh, well, good luck with that. This is a pretty big region, so you might be searching for…ya know what, nevermind. I forget, Aura senses." Korrina shook her head. "Still, have fun with the search." As she walked away, my senses caught who I was looking for. Putting all of my focus into them, with my mind on something specific, means that my effective range is much higher than normal. Locking onto the feeling of Xerneas's Aura was easy, the long part is going to be travelling to her.
So I set off right away, but kept a relaxed pace. There wasn't any need to teleport straight to her, takes the fun out of exploring. It was quiet here in Kalos, and the smell of the sea breeze was pleasant. Something I was happy for, especially with the mess from yesterday. It was relaxing, and I felt like I really needed it.
[Break]
The search for Xerneas began to stretch on into a few hours, the feeling of her unique Aura growing stronger as I got closer. And as the fourth hour mark was reached, I found her. Sound asleep, breathing slowly and softly. Her eyes snapped open as I approached, and she slowly lifted her head.
"A human? How did you find me?" Xerneas's Kalosian accent was just as strong as the last time I spoke to her. Not a surprise, honestly, since it really fits with who she is.
"Your Aura, I followed the feeling of it. I'm Zeryph, Chosen of Arceus. It's nice to meet you." I said, smiling softly.
"The Chosen?" Xerneas smiled, before shifting in order to stand and stretch. "It's nice to meet you, too. So, what does the Chosen need of me?"
"I sought you out, wondering if you'd like to join our team." It was more than that, of course, but I wasn't going to reveal it. I didn't want to potentially mess with the timeline, not any more than it already was, at least.
"You know, that seems like a good idea. However, I would like to wait, if that's OK with you. You're free to come back and visit at any time, of course. But, I won't join your group until you've beaten a second League. Ask me then, and we'll see. So long as you don't forget to visit on occasion." Xerneas moved to lay back down.
"Fair enough. And, yeah, I'll definitely stop by whenever I have time. I'd be glad to sit down and chat for a little bit." I pulled open a rift, preparing to go see Zeraora. "I'll see you later, Xerneas." I caught her smile just as I stepped through the rift. Finding Zeraora on my own was going to be harder than Xerneas was.
Because, unlike Xerneas, I didn't have his Aura to track. With that in mind, I brought Mewtwo through to help out. Mewtwo spread his senses out, and we began our search. Much like with Xerneas, it did take a little bit, though not quite as long. As soon as we found Zeraora, we went to see him. Finding him hidden away in a cave, well out of sight of anyone who didn't know what to look for. I knocked on the side on the way in, announcing our presence.
"Huh? Who's…oh! You guys! Heh…how have you been?" Zeraora's voice still had the slight buzz to it. Caused by the strong electrical powers that he had access to.
"Fine, for the most part." I said. "Figured it was about time we paid a visit. You're the second one today."
"Lemme guess, you're doing some recruiting, right?" Zeraora asked, smiling when I nodded. "Perfect. Count me in. You've already proven yourself, after all, so it doesn't make any sense to turn it down." He walked up, holding out a hand. I went ahead and got him a ball, customized of course. Yellow with black and blue markings in the shape of lightning bolts. Zeraora's smile turned into a grin, and he allowed himself to be caught.
Just like with the others, I let him back out immediately, prompting him to stretch. With Xerneas and Zeraora joining the group, I think I'm just about at what the limit is going to be. At least as far as Legends/Mythicals go. The only one remaining might be Korraidon or Miraidon, depending on which one I want to go with.
As for those who don't fit either of those classes, I'm thinking maybe two or three more. Especially for cases where bonds turn romantic. That reminds me, something I mentioned before but didn't get around to, Shadow Clones. I sent Mewtwo and Zeraora back to the Pokemon Center, then as the rift closed, I brought up the System stuff.
It wasn't hard to figure out how to make the necessary changes, then I pulled up the Cross-World Market, and bought the skill stuff necessary. Before immediately using it, then, making the proper hand sign. There was a large poof of smoke, along with a noticeable drain on my power. From the smoke, an exact copy of myself emerged, wearing the same grin as I was.
Should've done this sooner, honestly, as it would've been incredibly helpful for training. Still, I'm glad to see that it works. My clone nodded his head, then dispelled himself. Prompting me to wince as the memory flow hit my head. That's gonna take some getting used to, for sure. I'm also going to need to be careful about how many I use at once, as to not potentially fry my brain. Although, Gamer's Mind should take care of that problem.
In fact, I can already think of one way they'd be great, and I'm not referring to that. Although, that's one of the main reasons. No, I had in mind something for a bit of less intense training. Stealth training, using a scenario designed for it. It's in the very early stages of course, but I'll see what I can do with the ideas that I've got.
I also decided to set the questing system to be a bit more active, and it came up with some great ones. Probably the most extensive ones with the biggest rewards I've seen.
[New Quest: The World Champion]
[The story of a mission to become the champion in every major Region. Go for it, kid!]
[Reccomended Level- any]
[Objective 1- Win the Kanto League (Done)]
[Objective 2- Win the Johto League]
[Objectives 3 through 9 will be revealed at a later time]
[Rewards- 10 levels, 50 Gacha Tokens, 50,000,000,000 Cash, full Cross-World Exploration system]
[Failure Conditions- N/A]
[New Quest- The Johto League]
[Recommended Level- 30]
[The second step on your road to being the World Champ. Second of nine, with more to go]
[Objective 1- Start the Johto Gym Challenge]
[Rewards- 200,000 EXP, 5 Gacha Tokens, 2,000,000 Cash, Johto League ribbon]
[Failure Conditions- N/A]
[All Kanto League quest rewards have been granted, retroactively. You might want to take some time to sort it all out.]
[You have leveled up!]
Those have to be the largest rewards, for anything, up to this point. Honestly, I wonder why it didn't just do this to begin with. Still, the levels are nice. Ten free levels seems like it's a biiit much, but I'll be setting things to balance for that going forward. Because of this, I think much steeper increases in EXP requirements would make more sense. I'll start at fifty thousand, from level thirty, and go from there.
Does it mean I'm gonna be ridiculously strong, a lot faster, maybe. But the region league quests are long-term things, not quests to get over and done with in a short time.
[Zeryph]
[Void Reaper]
[Title- Chosen of Arceus]
[Level 30 (0/50,000 to next]
[HP- 1,000/1,000]
[Mana- 5,000/5,000]
[Aura- 50,000/50,000]
[STR- 75]
[END- 75]
[AGI- 70]
[INT- 50]
[LCK- 50]
[CHA- 50]
[PER- 60]
[WIL- 50]
[VIT- 40]
My Perception had gone up on its own to sixty, which I wasn't aware of until now. If I had to guess, my Lucario form boosted it as part of training with Aura-related abilities. I put the points I had into Endurance and Agility, and I plan to bring the rest up with my next several levels.
Willpower was something I made a change to, given how I can rebalance things, within reason. It's now five hundred mana for every five points. So at fifty, I have a max mana cap of five thousand. Which doesn't seem like a lot, but compared to Aura, I don't really need that much. Plus, from what I've seen, Aura is a completely independent stat. So, attributes have no effect on it at all.
Health was also changed, so that now it makes sense for it to be as high as it is. By changing the attributes to include a Vitality attribute. Since my health wasn't really tied to anything otherwise. Twenty five per point, with two freebies to bring it up to a thousand at forty points. Would've been better to have a Vitality attribute from the start, because, before now, I don't really know what my health was actually tied to.
Which means that Endurance is now purely focused on Damage Resist. At the moment, my attributes don't seem like they have a cap on them. I may have to change that in the future. Same for potentially setting up level caps in order to prevent the possibility of over-leveling. The dungeon we got the Eon Twins from showed that it can be a problem.
And Attribute caps might be important, especially for Endurance. I don't mind having super high damage resist, not at all, but I don't want to be outright invincible. I'm thinking that leaving it at where it's at now is fine, as it means I can still get killed if I screw up, but I won't be outright invincible. If things become a problem, then the highest I'll go is about ninety percent.
Now, onto the tokens that I got. Better to use them now rather than wait for a while like last time, since I'd just end up forgetting them if I did. The first token I used gave me something…interesting. I uh…won't lie, I wasn't expecting this. But, I mean, if all the side game stuff is present then, I guess it makes sense. What I got was an outfit for my Lucario form. The…Ruins Style outfit, you all know the one. Oh…yeah, Melanie's gonna love this, for sure. If that other side of hers that I've heard about is anything to go by.
Speaking of which, the second one was something meant specifically for her. A package of some sort, which won't allow me to open it. I guess she'll have to make a surprise out of it. I didn't think Gachas could give specific items, but I guess it can. Onto the third, perhaps the most normal of the bunch, an extra supply pack to add to what we've got in storage. I'll sort that out later on, of course.
The fourth token dropped a few things for magic. Stuff that Melanie and I both could use, and we likely will. I'll sort through them later, of course. Which brings me to the last of the tokens. A reward even more simple than the supplies, in the form of a couple hundred grand. Something to hold onto for when I need it, of course, on top of what I got from the retroactive Kanto rewards.
I pulled open a rift and stepped through, emerging in the Pokemon Center. Zeraora seems to have already introduced himself, to those who didn't know him, anyway. He asked about where Evan was, and was understanding when I told him that Evan left the team.
After helping Zeraora get a room set up, both here in the Pokemon Center and in the cabin, my next thing to do was to talk to Melanie. She wasn't hard to find, since she'd gone upstairs to the rooftop garden. I didn't bring attention to it last time we were here, but it's a thing. It's all under a skylight, and temperature controlled, so it won't get cold up here.
"Went and got another new recruit, huh?" Melanie asked. "I figured at least one of them would want to join us. So, where's Xerneas?"
"She wants to wait until we've completed Johto before she joins us. But has asked for me to visit whenever I can." I sat down, then pulled the package for Melanie that I got. "Quest system gave me quite a few things, including some Gachas. Got this from one of the tokens, for you." I handed it to her. Decided to not mention the new…outfit, not yet anyway.
"For me, specifically? Huh, thought the tokens were only for you. Still, nice to know it can give you things for the rest of us." Melanie took her package. "I'll open this later, might make a nice surprise depending on what it is."
"Well, here's hoping that it's something nice. I also got some more magic stuff for both of us to use, along with some supplies and a bit of extra cash." I offered a hand so that Melanie could pull herself up. "We can find out what the package is later. Or you can just go and figure it out now."
"I think I will, and I can surprise you with it later on." Melanie opened a portal for herself, then stepped through. I watched it close behind her, then went to find a spot to sit down. Deciding to take a bit of time to plan out that idea I had for the stealth training. Having Shadow Clones now is going to help with that, too. But, as to not give away that I've gotten them, I shifted over into an empty dungeon. Then I created two of them. We all sat down, and I brought up an illusion of a map.
From there, we started to set to work, crafting what would become the mapped area for what I've got in mind. A multi-day task in which my team is going to be assigned with sneaking through a forest, while my clones and I patrol it. If we catch someone, they're out, but will get to try again later on.
It's not just the location we need to figure out, but also the rules and everything else. Obviously stuff that makes things too easy, like Kaorah's ability to travel underground or Mewtwo's senses wouldn't be allowed. Or at least very, very limited. Given how their flight works, I'm thinking that the twins and Alex will be exempt. In the latter case, it's because he relies on being able to fly in order to move at any decent pace.
While I worked on the map, my clones followed behind with plans for patrol routes and traps. As well as places to hide supplies for the team to use if they found them. As for the traps, they wouldn't do much more than just leave whoever was caught, stuck in place for a short time. They'll be allowed to free themselves, of course.
One of my clones came up with the idea of illusion traps, ones which would essentially trap them in a loop. Obviously wouldn't really work on Mewtwo and Melanie. Completely useless for Solais, since she'd just be immune. Still, I figured it wouldn't hurt. So long as we threw in clues that would let them figure out how to break out of one.
[Break]
Planning came to a halt after a few hours of work. The clones dispelled themselves, moments before Liz popped up. She was sent up to get me for supper, and was curious about what I was working on, so I explained it as we walked down to the dining room. I just made sure to ask her to not reveal anything about my plans.
This is because I want it to be more of a surprise. 'Cause if we end up being separated for real, and forced to sneak around while we're being hunted, we wouldn't have time to plan for it. It would be a get up and go scenario, disappear without warning and move for a safe place to regroup and hide out.
It also helps us with stealth, in general, either way. Something which would be useful going forward, especially when we start to get into harder stuff. As we entered the kitchen, I caught the slightly flustered look from Melanie, likely related to whatever was in that package. I guess I'll be finding out about that, later on.
Following supper, we all began to turn in for the night. Zeraora seemed to slot right in, really nicely. It was decided that he and Alex would be sharing a room, since the room Alex was in had a spare bed. I thought it would've taken longer for Zeraora to get settled in, but I guess not. Honestly, same could be said for Alex, considering where he's from. His first meeting with Liz went…surprisingly well, actually.
I'm just glad we went to the Pokemon Center with Liz first. Popping up in Pallet Town with Alex likely would've been…very overwhelming. Not to mention going to somewhere like say…Celadon or Saffron. I don't think he'd be able to handle that. Not so suddenly, anyway.
He seemed fine with where we are now, though. Well, other than the winter cold, of course, being Dragon/Flying. Kaorah mentioned that he'd asked how she dealt with it, and she explained that it was from endurance training. I'll be messing with the System a little bit more, see if I can get that perk spread to those on the team who don't have it yet.
Speaking of Kaorah, she was the one that was with me, tonight. I'll be taking her to Ferrum for that date, tomorrow. It's about time that I did, since I owe it to her. After that, we'll work on preparations for Power of One. Which should only be a few days out now. I'm hoping things go a bit more smoothly than the mess on New Island. But, when Legendaries are involved, especially in such high numbers, things tend to get real messy. Can worry about that when we get to it though.
Notes:
Soo, that little bit later in the chapter with the outfit. I don't recall if I brought that up previously or not. But given how Unite stuff does exist in this story, even if not outright mentioned…I thought it would be funny to give Zeryph the Ruins Style outfit, since he has a Lucario form now. Colors matched to fit with him, of course. Personally, I think he'd figure out a way to make it look good.
Plus, y'all can probably guess the girls are gonna love seeing that on him. Melanie, especially, given the other side of hers that has been hinted at. There's also Melanie's mystery package. Don't worry, we'll be seeing that in the near future, too.
