Pokemon Corrupted Sunflower

by DarkFoxKit

What was supposed to be a coming of age day for twin boys to become Pokemon Trainers, turned into a tragedy. Mysterious people wearing Swinub outfits started appearing everywhere, Pokemon are being taken away and experimented on, and people are becoming corrupted. Can a young boy and his Pokemon survive in this world and find out what happened to his brother?

4. Chapter 4: A Mountainous Trek

DarkFoxKit: Alright, so we have everything set up?

Traveling Master: I believe so, no complications so far.

DarkFoxKit: Alright, good. Dust already finished setting up the fireworks.

Traveling Master: …Who put Dust in charge of fireworks. Why are there fireworks? Why wasn't I informed, he's not even supposed to be here, why is he here?!

DarkFoxKit: He said he didn't like that we missed out on the 4th of July, so he wants to make up for it with all these fireworks. *There were craters and caters of fireworks behind us*

Traveling Master: …And this is why I don't allow him near any fireworks, or electronics, or anything flammable…Now I gotta clean this mess up. You all enjoy the story while I try to find Dust before he sets off more fireworks.

DarkFoxKit: Too late! They're all lit!

KABOOOOOOOM!

*An Absol walks in to watch the show*

Dust: Huh? Who set off the fireworks? They weren't supposed to go off until tonight.

---

Chapter 4: A Mountainous Trek

Everything was bright, making it difficult for Flint to see anything. Thankfully it didn't take long for things to clear up, and to his surprise he found himself outside in front of his home. Even more surprising was the sight of his wife standing in front of him, with their two sons. Boney was happily barking in his dog house.

Hinawa?...You're…no…this was the day you left to visit Alec. Flint recalled.

Despite it being a memory, there were no words being said between any of them, yet he could recall everything they had said before she left. How he had expressed his worries to Hinawa and how she knew exactly what to say to calm his nerves. Claus was excited and impatient as ever, eager to visit Alec, while Lucas was still the nervous child, holding Hinawa's hands for comfort. With one last wave of goodbye, Flint watched as his family walked off, never knowing back then the unfortunate danger they would face later.

Everything got bright once more until the only thing Flint could see was the empty white space. But soon a figure started to appear. At first he couldn't see who it was, but just as his vision cleared up, he was shocked once more to see Hinawa, yet there seemed to be some kind of white glow or aura surrounding his wife. Hiniwa smiled at the man she loved, and while it was comforting to see for Flint, he could also tell there was sadness behind those eyes.

He tried calling out to her, but no sound came. He tried moving, but found he couldn't. Just like before, there wasn't anything he could do to get to Hinawa.

"Flint, my love," Flint would've if he could, hearing Hinawa's voice in his head. "You are a wonderful, brave and strong man who's faced many hardships throughout the years. And I'm sorry that I won't be able to continue that journey with you anymore. Lucas and Claus still have you and will need you and each other more than ever. Please watch over them, they are very special, and in more ways than you or they could imagine."

Flint tried to reach out to Hinawa. Hinawa looked like she wanted to reach back when something small and pink floated over to Hinawa. It had a bright light surrounding it, making it difficult for Flint to see what it was exactly. But it spoke in a bit of a high pitch voice.

"I'm sorry, Hinawa. It's time." The mysterious ball of pink light said in an urgent yet calm tone.

Hinawa gave a small nod. "I love you, Flint… please be strong…"

The ball of pink light surrounded Hinawa, engulfing her entirely. Then everything went dark for Flint.

Flint began to open his eyes again, finding himself lying face down on a gray, solid floor. He could hear what sounded like the chirps of Pidgey. The man slowly pushed himself up, his head pounding a little.

"Ugh…" Flint groaned as he looked around his surroundings. He saw he was in a prison cell, with nothing but a wooden table to keep him company. There were some windows at the top of the cell, showing some Pidgey flying by. Outside of the prison cell, Flint saw Bronson walking by the bars.

Bronson noticed that Flint was awake now. "Hey… Flint…"

Flint looked down. He knew he had lost it earlier, though he didn't remember what he did exactly.

"Nobody's ever been thrown in New Bark's jail before. You have the honor of being the first," Bronson noted.

"... Some honor…" Flint grumbled.

"I'm sorry to say… but you gave Ollie and Abbot a real walloping, but they're alright now," Bronson explained. "The mayor thought it would be wise to keep you locked up for the time being. But I'm sure he'll let you out once you show you've calmed down."

Flint didn't say anything.

Bronson gave a sigh. "... About Hinawa… I can only offer my deepest condolences. But still… why would a Tyranitar attack someone? They're such friendly Pokemon…"

"Who knows…" Flint sighed.

Bronson sighed as well. "Take it easy for a while. I know you're having a hard time with this, but try to get some sleep. The… Tyranitar's fang that was found on the Meganium's flower… I've delivered it to your house. You can use it as a weapon… when you're ready."

With that said, Bronson walked out of the building, leaving Flint to his own thoughts.

Dang it, Flint! Your boys needed a caring father just after they had lost their mother, not some raging lunatic! Flint angrily thought to himself. He looked around the cell, even trying the door itself, not surprised to see it locked. Had to try. Hinawa, I'm sorry, I'm already failing at being the father Lucas and Claus need right now.

With that thought, he sat down with his back towards the cell door, wondering how long until he was released. He could only hope to repair the damage he had done with his two sons.

Suddenly the door opened up and someone else walked into the building. Flint saw the familiar blond hair, and the red and yellow striped shirt. He couldn't bear to look at one of his sons after what happened, however, so he moved his eyes down in shame.

"Dad…" The boy spoke softly. "It's me, Lucas."

Flint kept his eyes down as Lucas approached the window of his cell.

"I… wish Claus could be here too," Lucas admitted. "But… he has something else in mind right now."

"...Lucas…I'm…" Flint started, but was struggling with the words.

"It's okay, Dad, I understand," Lucas replied softly. "I… don't have much time, but I wanted to at least drop this apple off. Not sure how long it's been since you last ate, so make sure you eat this apple… Or… well, don't, but at least pick it up."

Flint blinked when he saw Lucas had placed a very round looking apple on the window still. Lucas then turned around and started to walk away before he stopped.

"Dad… I… I wish I was a stronger Pokemon Trainer, and a stronger person. Maybe if I was… none of this would've happened," Lucas said softly. "If I was more like Claus… maybe I could've saved Mom. But… this time… this time, I…"

Lucas didn't finish his sentence, instead, he ran out of the building. The way Lucas ran, it looked like he was in a big hurry. Flint didn't even have time to tell Lucas that he shouldn't need to be Claus, because he wasn't Claus, he was Lucas. Flint wondered if Lucas really thought that way, that Claus really was the better of the two of them.

I guess a lot of people gave Claus a lot of praise for being the first of the two to get his Pokemon partner… Flint noted. I need to talk to Lucas when I get out. But what is with the ap-

As soon as Flint touched the apple, he knew it wasn't an apple. It had red paint on it, but he could feel the 'apple' was made out of metal. He was really glad he didn't bite into it, that could break his teeth. Why would Lucas bring me a painted metal sphere?

Flint turned the metal sphere around a few times before his finger hit a button he missed. The sphere expanded in size when he did, and Flint only knew one kind of sphere that usually did that when the button of it was pressed… It was a Poke Ball.

"Where did Lucas even get…" Flint shook his head. "Worry about that later, Lucas wouldn't have gone through the trouble of getting you a Poke Ball unless it was something serious."

Flint tossed the ball, having it activate and open, releasing the Pokemon within. To Flint's surprise, it was the strangely colored Sneasel that was usually with Duster.

The Sneasel known as Leblanc stretched a bit before finally addressing Flint with a grin. "Sne Sneasel!"

"You're Duster's Pokemon, right? Why did Lucas have your Poke Ball?" Flint asked.

"Sneasel~" The Sneasel gave a mischievous grin before she walked over to the locked door.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Flint asked.

Leblanc raised her claw over the lock. She could just destroy it, but that wasn't very fun. She slipped one of her claws into the lock. Flint blinked as he watched what Leblanc was doing. She took a moment to wiggle her claw around until the lock clicked open. She smirked as she pulled her claw out, and kicked open the door. She crossed her arms and gave a proud smile. "Sne~"

Flint was about to ask why the Sneasel did that in the first place, only for Leblanc to call out to him again, waving her claw at him to follow her. Flint wasn't exactly sure what was going on, or what Lucas was planning, but he decided to trust his son and follow the Sneasel. She gave a little hop to reach the door handle, pulling it down then swinging her body back to pull open the door a little. Again, she knew Flint could've easily done it himself, but where was the fun in that.

Poking a head out the door, Leblanc made sure the coast was clear before opening the door all the way. Flint, despite his better judgment, decided to continue to follow the Sneasel, and as the Pokemon led him outside, he was surprised to see a familiar face waiting for him. Leaning against one of the wooden log posts was Duster, the same young man who had helped him traverse the mountains yesterday.

Leblanc immediately climbed to Duster's shoulder, rubbing her body against his head, only for him to return the favor by scratching her favorite spot. Just as Flint was about to speak with Duster, Leblanc hopped off Duster and climbed on top of the wooden post to watch the two humans from above.

"That's some Pokemon you got there, Duster," Flint spoke up. "Mind telling me why Lucas had your Pokemon in the first place as well as having your Pokemon break me out?"

"Lucas…" Duster hesitated, looking a little troubled about something. "He… said he wanted to get you out, and he wanted my help to do it. I asked him why, and he said I was probably the least destructive option. He… said some other things, but more importantly, he thought you shouldn't have been thrown in jail to begin with. Especially since Hinawa and her Meganium were buried last night."

"What?!" Flint hadn't realized that the village had gone ahead and had a funeral for his wife. Anger welled up inside of him at the thought of not even being there himself. But then he recalled why he was in that prison cell in the first place. After the way I acted, they probably were unsure of how I'd react if I was at the funeral, probably for the best that I wasn't there at the time.

"It's been pretty hard for both Claus and Lucas, especially Lucas," Duster continued. "What happened to Hinawa was a terrible tragedy…and I wish there was more I could've done to help. I can't say I know how you're feeling…but…if there's anything I can do for you…just let me know anytime…"

Flint gave a sigh. "Well… thank you, Duster… I appreciate it."

"Yeah…" Duster paused before saying something else. "And… about Lucas… he…"

Flint looked at Duster. "What?"

"... Don't mention him taking Leblanc and giving her to you when you see him, alright?" Duster requested.

"What? But why?" Flint asked, confused by Duster's request.

"Lucas… already has a lot on his mind, and wants to help you. He already feels guilty over what happened recently," Duster tried explaining.

Flint was still unsure why Duster made the request, but Duster had helped him a lot yesterday, so he knew he could at least trust him. He also trusted that Lucas would tell him later in the future, when he was ready. Duster was right, Lucas and Claus both had a lot on their minds, and the last thing they need is a father interrogating them.

"Okay Duster, I'll leave it be for now. Thank you again," Flint said with a slight nod.

"Anytime, come on Leblanc, father is probably wondering where his useless son is," Duster slightly chuckled as he watched Leblanc stretch before leaping off the wooden post and on top of his shoulder.

"Sneasel~" Leblanc chimed.

"Yeah, you did a great job, I'll give you your favorite snack when we get home," Duster smiled before leaving Flint to be alone.

Flint wondered about why Lucas chose to trust Duster, he was pretty sure Lucas never really interacted with Duster before. But he had other things he had to do now that he was out of jail. Hinawa had been buried last night, he needed to get to the graveyard and see where her grave was. After that, he planned to find Claus and Lucas, and try to be the strong father he was supposed to be. He hoped it wasn't too late to make up for his outburst. Hinawa's spirit was begging him to help them.

When Flint entered the plaza, he noticed the atmosphere was heavy. It was no surprise, after all, they did just lost a friend. To Flint, however, he lost the person he loved. Even though Hinawa had been buried, Flint wasn't too late for the entire village to feel like one giant funeral.

Some of the people he passed by gave him an uneasy look, but they didn't bother him. The others just gave him their condolences. None of them questioned why or how he got out of jail, which was a relief to Flint.

When Flint reached the graveyard, it wasn't difficult to see where Hinawa's grave was. There was a crowd of people around one grave in particular, which was set over a cliff, where sunflowers were growing. The people who saw Flint coming, parted, letting Flint get to where he needed to be. Flint saw Alec and Lucas in front of a tombstone. There were two tombstones, one was bigger than the other. That one, Flint realized, must've been the Meganium who died with Hinawa… Hinawa's first partner.

Flint couldn't believe this was happening. He had hoped, with every fiber of his being, that his wife's death had just been a terrible nightmare, or a hallucination induced by breathing in some of Boney's Smog attack when they were fighting against those strange Swinub people. But… seeing the tombstones before him, and his younger child, Lucas, crying his eyes out, as well as Alec, Hinawa's father and his father-in-law, standing by the grave, it was all too real.

Flint walked up to Alec and Lucas. Flint didn't know what to say. He did want to ask Lucas earlier about why he took Duster's Poke Ball and gave it to him to escape from jail, and what Lucas meant when he mentioned 'this time'. But Duster told Flint not to mention that to Lucas, and with how heartbroken Lucas looked right now, Flint wasn't sure if he could've brought himself to interrogate his son right now anyways.

Alec then took notice of Flint's arrival, and went to greet him. "Oh Flint, I'm guessing they let you out. Well, that's good, I tried telling them earlier that a cell was the last thing they should do, but they were too worried on how you'd react after waking up. It's…it's good to see you here."

Alec sighed briefly as he turned to look at his daughter's grave before facing Flint once more. "As soon as I heard what had happened, I rushed here to the village…And all this happened right after I had spent a wonderful time with my daughter and grandchildren."

Flint noticed that Alec had a Murkrow on his shoulder, he must've brought some of his Pokemon with him to get through the mountains.

"Huh…? D-dad?" Lucas asked, just noticing Flint. "Y-you're… out of that jail now?"

"...I was…but weren't you the one who…?" Flint paused, recalling once again Duster's request. Perhaps Lucas didn't want others to know at the moment. Flint only hoped that Lucas would come to him and explain his previous actions.

Flint was about to try and comfort his son when Alec suddenly had a worried look on his face. "Wait…Flint…where's Claus? He hasn't shown up yet, and was wondering if maybe you've seen him since they let you out of prison."

Flint frowned. "No, I hadn't seen Claus at all since I was… knocked out. Lucas, have you seen your brother?"

In a way, Flint hoped by talking about Claus would help distract Lucas from his thoughts on his mother and how she ended up dying. Whatever happened must've also traumatized Lucas as well. Flint hadn't been able to get the full story on what exactly happened after all.

Lucas looked at Flint and Alec. "Claus… he… he was really angry about what happened… he didn't like seeing Dad put in jail, and Mom… being gone… or Sunny…"

Lucas looked like he was debating on something.

"So where is he now?" Alec asked, sounding a little urgent.

Lucas hesitated before he looked up at his grandfather. "Claus took Sparks with him, and that Tyranitar Fang Bronson delivered to our house… and headed off to the mountain…"

Flint's heart skipped a beat as Alec spoke before he could. "Don't tell me he went off to find that Tyranitar that caused all this?! Does Claus honestly believe he can take on a Tyranitar with just a Pikachu? Especially with how inexperienced he is. Even with a Tyranitar Fang, that's not going to cut it! Especially since Sunny here wasn't able to… Lucas, why didn't you stop him?"

Lucas frowned, looking down. "Well… I did try to talk him out of it… or at least take me with him. But he insisted on going with just Sparks."

"In that case, why didn't you tell someone sooner? Your brother could've been torn apart by now!" Alec scolded.

Lucas flinched from Alec's sudden loud voice. He knew his grandfather wasn't exactly angry at him, but only worried over Claus's wellbeing. But with everything that had happened recently, to his dad being locked up, to Claus running off with Sparks, leaving all alone. Watching his mom and her old Meganium pass away and later to watch them buried was all too much for the little boy. Unable to hold back his tears, Lucas ran off, no longer able to handle being there, right in front of his mom's grave.

"Lucas!" Flint called out to his son, but Lucas was already gone. He then turned and glared at his father-in-law. "Alec! What were you thinking?! The boy had just lost his mother, and you thought it was smart to yell at my son?"

Alec frowned, realizing what he had done. "Shoot, I was too harsh on him. Flint, I'm sorry…after losing Hinawa, the thought of Claus being in danger got the better of me."

"Murkrow…" The Murkrow on Alec's shoulder gave a sigh before giving a light peck to Alec's head. "Murk!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know I let the stress get the better of me, Krow, no need to rub it in," Alec grumbled.

Flint looked at the Murkrow that Alec called 'Krow' on his shoulder. It was unusual for most people to keep a Dark type around here, except for Professor Wess, who seemed to like studying Dark types. Boney was, admittedly… unintentional, but he didn't have time to think about such things right now.

"I need to talk to Lucas," Flint said. "I need to pick up my strongest Pokemon before we look for Claus anyways, especially with how dangerous things have gotten lately."

"Well you better hurry, we need to find Claus before he finds the Tyranitar," Alec replied. "Meet me at my cabin and we'll go from there. I'll try and see if maybe Claus had changed his mind and decided to come back. I can only hope he has come to his senses."

Flint nodded, giving one last look at Hinawa's grave, remembering his vision of her and how she asked him to take care of their sons. I promise Hinawa, I'll find Claus before it's too late.

With that, Flint left Hinawa's grave, ignoring those around him. He didn't have time to speak with the others. He needed to speak with Lucas first and retrieve his Pokemon. It had been awhile since he had to use his strongest Pokemon. He only hoped that he would make it in time before it was too late.

---

Flint found Lucas sitting by the doghouse. Boney was sitting with Lucas, trying to comfort the boy. Lucas seemed to be crying, not that Flint could blame the boy.

"Lucas…" Flint spoke up.

"Dad…" Lucas replied back, hiccuping a little. "I-I'm… sorry that I… didn't stop Claus…"

Flint went and sat down next to Lucas, putting a comforting arm around Lucas. "I know…you were only trying to do the right thing, but I also know that you must've been scared."

"Y-yeah… I was… I couldn't do anything…" Lucas frowned. "I'm so weak…"

Flint frowned as he remembered what Lucas said to him about wishing he had been a stronger person, like Claus. And a stronger Pokemon Trainer despite not having a Pokemon of his own yet. That was one of the things he and Hinawa kinda hoped for, that during their visit with Alec, Lucas would build up enough courage and capture his first Pokemon. Instead his two sons were forced to run for their lives, to remember the trauma that was left behind.

As he thought of his and Hinawa's hope for Lucas's first Pokemon, Flint recalled the egg that Lucas had with him last night. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with feeling weak. Being strong isn't about facing danger or battling the most dangerous Pokemon out there, being strong and brave is when you face your doubts and fears, to overcome them. Like that Pokemon egg you had, eventually it will hatch, and it will start off weak, perhaps scared too. But, if you are the one to care for it, to nurture it and help it grow, I believe both of you will find the strength and courage to face any outcome."

Lucas shook his head. "I… I don't think I… I'm cut out to be a Pokemon Trainer… I'm not brave enough… I can't catch a Pokemon… The egg doesn't have its parents anymore… I left it with Professor Wess… he could take care of the egg better than I could."

"Lucas…your mother believed in the courage that was in you, and so do I. You may find it hard to believe now, but I know you'll find that courage. And Professor Wess is a smart man, but he is also a busy one. It would do both you and the egg some good if you were there to care for it. It's like you said, the egg doesn't have its parents anymore, and you made sure to have kept it safe this whole time," Flint reassured. "And remember when we first got Boney? Everyone had been cautious around him for a while, but it was you who wanted to stay close to Boney, and it was you who made us realize that Boney is a big softie despite his intimidating stature."

Boney gave a soft whine at that. Lucas gently rubbed Boney's head.

Flint sighed as he patted Lucas's head. He then got up, preparing to get one last thing before leaving. "You're a lot more capable than you realize, Lucas, you don't need to be Claus for that."

Lucas still found it hard to believe he could be strong or courageous, it was something he wanted to improve on, so that he could be there for Claus or others in the future. But now wasn't that time, now he was only worried about his brother and father.

"Are you…going after Claus?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, your brother is dedicated, and I can understand wanting justice for what had happened, but he still shouldn't have gone off alone with Sparks," Flint answered. "Don't worry, I'll find him before he gets hurt."

Lucas looked up at Flint. "... Please do… I… have a feeling something bad will happen to Claus if he… doesn't come back."

"I'll bring him back, Lucas, I promise," Flint promised with a determined tone in his voice. "But you wait here, okay? Boney, take care of Lucas."

Boney nodded with a bark.

"You're not taking Boney with you?" Lucas asked.

"Boney is our family Pokemon, he was trained to keep us company and herd the Mareep, but he wasn't trained for battle. I'm going to need to bring my old battling partner with me for this one," Flint replied.

Lucas blinked, looking surprised. "You mean…?"

"Yup, I'm not taking any chances with this one," Flint said before he walked over to the Mareep pin. "Firebolt! I need you!"

A tall figure stood up from the herd of Mareep, and walked over to Flint. The figure was taller than Flint himself. The Pokemon was a yellow, bipedal ovine creature with a white belly. It has conical ears with black stripes and a red orb on its forehead. It had a long neck that had several black rings around the base. Its stubby arms resemble flippers, and each foot has a single white nail. It has a long, black-striped tail with a red orb at the tip. The orb on its tail glowed slightly.

"Ampharos…" The Pokemon stated, looking at Flint before nodding, immediately understanding that this was an emergency situation.

"Thank you, my old friend. We need to hurry," Flint said before he held up a Poke Ball-like object, but this Poke Ball was different from the typical, yet iconic, red and silver color. This Poke Ball was yellow at top, with a black spot at the very tip of the Poke Ball, and a red V between the yellow and black colors.

Flint reminisced the Poke Ball in his hand for a moment, it was the very first Poke Ball he made from an apricorn to catch his first Pokemon, which happened to have been a Mareep at the time.

Flint pointed the ball at the Ampharos, shooting out a red beam that hit the Ampharos. The red beam didn't cause any pain, it just turned the Ampharos into red energy and it went into the ball.

Now with his partner in hand, Flint looked back at Lucas and Boney. "I'll be back soon with Claus."

"Good luck, Dad…" Lucas said quietly.

---

Flint hurried out of the village, rushing towards Mt. Silver where Alec was waiting. The fire from last night burnt down a lot of trees and grass, and some wild Pokemon had grown a bit hostile, though they were nothing Flint couldn't handle.

Flint finally made it to the cabin where Alec was living. He saw some of Alec's Pokemon, but Flint was here to see Alec himself.

"Flint, I take it you got everything settled then?" Alec asked when Flint met up with him in his cabin.

"Yeah. Firebolt and I are ready to bring Claus home. I haven't seen anymore of those weird Swinub people either," Flint answered.

"Swinub people?" Alec asked.

"You haven't heard? While we were looking for Hinawa and the kids, Duster and I saw these people wearing Swinub costumes, and they had a… Stantler that looked like it's been experimented on with cybernetic technology. And we believe they may have also caused the fire in the forest," Flint explained. "I had captured that Stantler to try to save it, but I haven't had the time or opportunity to give it to Professor Wess to study. I will do so once we bring Claus home though."

"That poor Stantler…" Alec then thought of something else that made him even more worried. "Flint…I've been around Tyranitar and their terror for a good while, and it takes a lot for them to suddenly go hostile. Most wouldn't dare to anger a Tyranitar, even the fire that had happened wouldn't have been enough to cause any of the Tyranitar to suddenly go berserk."

"Are you…suggesting that the Tyranitar that took my wife and nearly took my sons was caused by those Swinub people?" Flint asked, anger slowly rising in his voice.

"It's a theory, but considering all that's happened, it's possible those Swinub people might have done something to cause that Tyranitar to go completely berserk," Alec answered.

While if it were true, it only would add more to Flint's anger over what had happened, but at the same time, he also felt worried. Not for himself, but for Claus. For if it was true that the Swinub People had been involved, then there was a good chance they had experimented on the Tyranitar, just like the Stantler he and Duster had encountered before.

"Then we better hurry, we don't know how far Claus has gotten, so we better make haste," Flint said as he took the lead.

"Well, I'm with you on that, but we don't know where Claus went. Mt. Silver is pretty big," Alec said. "It might be good to have some help to have an idea where he went."

"Who could help us?" Flint questioned. "Are you going to send your Murkrow to scout for him or something? Maybe you should bring your Miltank too, especially if we have to face the Tyranitar."

"My Miltank wasn't raised for battle, much like how Boney wasn't. Krow is the only one here who knows how to fight," Alec replied as he looked at the Murkrow on his shoulder. "Yes, I am aware of the type disadvantage, but Krow would still last longer than my Miltank."

"And yet you always go on and on about how it's important to not spoil our Pokemon and to raise them for battle," Flint grumbled. "At least that's what you usually tell Hinawa."

"Tell me, are all your Mareep as strong as your Ampharos?" Alec grumbled back. "Or what about Boney? We both know how talented Hinawa was as a trainer, while we both led more of the farm life."

Flint sighed, they didn't have time for this. "Fine, whatever."

"And anyways, scouting can only do so much, especially on a mountain," Alec continued. "I'll bet you didn't know that someone else lived on Mt. Silver, though they live further into the mountain than I do. If anyone may have seen Claus, they would likely have."

"And you're sure they'll help us?" Flint asked. "Are you friends with them or something?"

"You could say that," Alec chuckled. "They're sort of the guardian of Mt. Silver in a way."

"If they were, why didn't they stop the tragedy from happening?" Flint grumbled.

"They can't interfere too much," Alec answered. "If anything, they can only interfere when a special circumstance happens."

"So mechanizing a Stantler, and turning a Tyranitar into a killing machine wasn't 'special' enough?" Flint huffed.

"Hey, I don't make the rules," Alec stated. "They aren't exactly the…ordinary type that you're used to meeting."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Flint questioned.

"Hmm, it might be easier to show you than to tell you," Alec decided. "Just follow me, I know where they live."

"Fine, but hurry," Flint urged.

Flint and Alec rushed through the mountains, going in deeper.

"Flint? I've noticed you're not moving as fast," Alec remarked, looking back at Flint. "Are you worried about meeting them?"

"What are you talking about? I was running, I just didn't want to run past you," Flint grumbled.

"Ah, well no need to slow down on my behalf, I may be old, but I have lived in these mountains longer than you have lived in New Bark Village," Alec huffed.

Flint simply nodded as he picked up the pace. He was rather surprised the old man could keep running at this pace.

"Murkrow!" Krow called out.

"You sense they're nearby, right, Krow?" Alec asked.

"Krow!" Krow replied.

Alec and Flint stopped when they came across a large gap that led into the river.

"Oh, looks like the bridge it out," Alec noted. "That Tyranitar's rampage must've broken it."

"Great, how are we going to get across? It could take days to get around this river, and we don't have that kind of time," Flint grumbled. "Maybe I'll just swim across."

"There's no need for that. We have Pokemon that are willing to help," Alec reminded. "I think you've lived in the village for so long that you forgot about that. Krow, can you call up the Poli Pokemon to give us a helping tail?"

"Murkrow!" Krow responded before flying up to one of the tree branches by the river. After scouting the waters for a minute, Krow finally spotted something as he took a deep breath. "KROOOOWWW~"

After a few seconds of that loud noise Krow made, Flint saw some blue things floating up to the surface of the water. He was surprised to see a few amphibian Pokemon that were blue, spherical tadpoles. They had large eyes and pink lips. There was a black and white swirl on its stomach area. They also had a long, thin tail surrounded by a light-blue, semi transparent fin.

These Pokemon hopped out of the water and shook themselves.

"Poli? Poliwag!" The Pokemon hopped around before looking back at the river. "Poliwag! Wag! Wag!"

In the water, bigger looking Pokemon began to gather. Flint saw some that looked similar to these Poliwag, but were a lot bigger. They had more bulbous eyes that protruded from the top of its head, and they appeared to have arms and hands, though the hands looked like they had white gloves on.

"Poliwhirl?"

The Poliwhirl began to form a line under the broken bridge. Towards the end, however, there were two different Pokemon. The first one was much bigger than the Poliwhirl, though it looked similar to Poliwhirl, most of its body looked to be made out of muscle, its arms and gloved hands were bigger as well.

The last Pokemon looked far more different. This one was green instead of blue. It was still a bipedal, amphibian Pokemon, with yellow hands, belly, throat, and toes. It had long, curled hair on top of its head, and pink cheek spots. There was a green swirl on its bell. Its legs looked more well developed than the others, and it had bulbous toes and fingers.

"Ah, I see two of the Poliwhirl evolved since I last saw them," Alec noted. "One of them must've found a Water Stone and became a Poliwrath, and the other one must've hung onto its King Rock for a while until it evolved them into that Politoed."

The Politoed stuck out like a sore thumb, not that Flint really cared.

"So what are they doing?" Flint asked.

"Can't you tell for yourself? They're forming a bridge for us," Alec explained. "All we have to do is hop on their heads to get to the other side."

"Are you crazy!? Do you know how slippery a Poli Pokemon's skin is? We could slip and fall into the river!" Flint hissed.

"Bah, this is what I meant by you having stayed in that village for too long," Alec chuckled. "It's as simple as playing hopscotch when you were a kid."

Flint had no idea how jumping on these amphibious Pokemon could be anything like hopscotch, and even if it was, it wasn't like he played it when he was a kid. He was about to protest once more when Alec jumped forward without warning, landing on the Poliwhirl with ease as the Pokemon held up its hands. Flint was expecting the old man to either slip, or the Poliwhirl to suddenly sink from the old man's weight, but to his surprise, the small Pokemon stayed afloat, even bobbing up a little to help Alec proceed to jump onto the next Poliwhirl. Just like the first one, this Poliwhirl had no trouble holding Alec up and proceeded to help the man jump onto the next Pokemon.

"Poliwrath!" The bigger amphibious Pokemon shouted, despite having no mouth.

Poliwrath held up Alec with one hand, even going so far as to flex with that same arm before helping the man leap onto the final Pokemon. Politoed didn't use any of its arms, but instead used its head, springing up just as Alec landed on top of him to give him the final push to leap safely onto the other side of the river.

"See? Just like hopscotch!" Alec remarked proudly.

"Murkrow~" Krow grinned, likely interested to seeing Flint fail as he watched on top of the tree branch.

Flint grumbled as he tilted his hat. He didn't have a very good feeling about this, but he couldn't waste too much time here, he had to save Claus. Flint took a leap and landed on one of the Poliwhirl. The Poliwhirl caught him with ease. Getting a little more confident, Flint hoped to the next Poliwhirl, and he kept going, until he hopped onto the Politoed's head. Flint thought he would slip there and fall into the river, but the Politoed was able to help Flint bounce up onto the other side without any issue.

"Huh… I was expecting that to go poorly," Flint admitted, surprised he made it to the other side without falling.

Krow huffed a little, not getting to see Flint fall into the river, but he supposed this was probably for the best since this was an emergency. Krow flew over to Alec, landing on his shoulder.

"Good to see you got some good legs on ya," Alec laughed while patting Flint on the back. "Now let's keep going, we should be close now."

Flint grunted as he continued to follow Alec. As they moved onward, Alec suddenly stopped as they came across a somewhat open clearing. Flint spotted a few trees, with what he believed to be a hot spring further ahead, but that wasn't what surprised him the most. For in the center of this area was a small lake, but at the center of that lake was a giant rainbow colored Heart Scale. He heard of those, even seeing them when some of the fishermen found one or two and brought them back as souvenirs. They were rather rare, and normally were found in Hoenn, but the big difference between those Heart Scale and the one at the middle of the lake was that they were also very small, no bigger than the palm of one's hands. Stranger still was that this giant Heart Scale also had windows, with a front door.

"That's… a strange… house?" Flint questioned, not sure what to make of it.

"Wait until you see who lives in that strange house," Alec chuckled.

Flint frowned, starting to wonder more and more who this 'friend' Alec was talking about. But he needed to do this for Claus. "Let's hurry."

Flint and Alec walked across a stone path towards the Heart Scale house, stopping just in front of the door.

"Now, before we enter, let me remind you once more, these aren't your…ordinary folk. They are wise, but in their own way, and trying to make complete sense of them will only give you a migraine. They should be willing to help, but it might be in a way neither of us expect," Alec explained.

"Alec, there's only so much I can brace myself for," Flint sighed. "It'll be better to get this over with quickly."

"Just don't say I didn't warn you," Alec replied. "Go ahead and open the door then."

Flint took a deep breath and let it out before he opened the door, bracing himself for what he might find. The inside of the Heart Scale house was mostly blue and purple, the walls looked to be water themed with patterns of fish Pokemon swimming around.

But what caught Flint's eyes were these 6 people that were eating berries and meat on the table. The food looked a bit… simple for a party, but these 6 people definitely looked… extraordinary.

"Come over here, Flint," Alec spoke up, snapping Flint out of his trance.

Flint saw Alec walking up to one of the individuals sitting at the end of the room on a rather fancy chair. Flint had never seen a woman with skin as white as snow, and a deep blue hair that seemed to go past her waist. Upon her forward was something that looked like three solid blue crystals, and Flint couldn't help but wonder if they were made of pure sapphire or some other kind of gem. Her attire was also out of the ordinary, sporting a thick blue winter jacket, with long white pants and thick gray snowboots. Flint was confused why someone would be wearing warm clothing, especially when it hardly felt cold in here. Her icy blue eyes watched him with both curiosity and amusement.

Suddenly the woman gave a big smile as she greeted Alec and Flint. "Is that Alec?! It is, it is! It's good to see you snookums!"

Flint was caught off guard by how the woman spoke. He was expecting some kind of harsh or cold attitude, not this bubbly friendly one. Especially with how the woman looked.

"My, my~" Flint and Alec turned to see another woman come to greet them. "Who might these two be?"

This woman was sitting on an armchair. She had long, purple silky long hair. She had a strange blue hexagonal crest on her forehead. She had a pair of white ribbons flowing from her waist. She had dark red eyes, and wore a blue kimono with white spots.

"Of course! Where are my manners?~" The first woman spoke as she gestured towards Alec. "This is my good friend Alec. Though you may have met him before and just don't remember."

"Oh yes, I think I remember a human visiting me a few times before," The purple haired woman chuckled. "I apologize, dearie, humans all look the same to me, it's hard for me to remember your faces properly."

What? Are they saying they're not human? Flint frowned at the wording.

The first woman then looked at Flint with intrigue. "But I must ask, who is this rather fine dashing man with you?~"

"This is Flint, my son-in-law," Alec explained. "That means he married my daughter, so he became my son by law."

"Flint, you say? It's very nice to meet you~" The first woman smiled.

What have I gotten myself into? Flint groaned, feeling worried about being near these strange people.

Alec leaned close to Flint to whisper to them. "They…uh…love cosplaying a lot…"

Cosplaying? Flint frowned. Yeah right.

"I should introduce you to us," The first woman stated. "We are the 7 Guardians of the Sea and Sky. Or just the Guardians for short. You're in luck, we're having a party today, nearly all of us are here. First we have Aeolia."

The first woman gestured to the woman sitting in the chair.

"Then there's Doria," The woman gestured to a man with yellow spiky hair with black tips. He wore a yellow T-shirt with a lightning symbol on it, and black pants with a chain around his pocket. In a way, he looked kind of like a punk, or someone from a biker's gang.

"Hello there," The man named Doria greeted. "I love the yellow on your clothes, Mr. Flint."

"Uh… thank you?" Flint responded, uncertain if the strange man was trying to hit on him or not.

"That sleepy one over there on the bed is Phrygia," The woman pointed to a male who was currently laying on the bed.

The male himself seemed to have a thick gray mustache that covered most of his lower face. His skin seemed slightly dark, which Flint actually kinda recognized, having seen the familiar farmer's tan. Despite laying in bed, the strange male seemed comfortable in his clothes, which… much to Flint's discomfort, were somewhat similar to his. Wearing similar blue pants and sporting brown boots, Flint was even surprised to see the man wearing a red scarf, similar to his. Only difference was instead of a yellow button up shirt like his, this man wore a brown one. Flint could barely see his eyes, for the man was also wearing a cowboy hat, though yellow, that was covering most of his face.

Phrygia seemed to hardly register Flint or Alec, but after a second he lifted hat, revealing two red sleepy eyes. Flint couldn't tell if it was due to the man being tired or if those were his natural eyes.

"...So sleeeepy…" Phrygia simply remarked before lowering his hat to sleep once more.

"Next we have Lydia," The woman continued, gesturing to another male.

This male was quite big, he had quite the muscles on him. He wore what looked like a coat made out of Arcanine fur, but the fur was more yellow than orange. He had a mustache, much like Phrygia did, though his mustache was more jagged looking. He had black base hair, but the hair was long, and the top part of the hair was purple. He gave Flint a grin, showing his canine teeth were longer than the average person's.

"Greetings," Lydia greeted in a deep rough voice.

Why do these men have such girly names? Flint wondered. Lydia looks the most masculine of them all, but has such a girly name…

"And that one over there is Mixolydia~" Ionia gestured towards the last female that was by the table with all the food.

The woman had fiery red hair that went past her waist. She wore a long yellow dress that shifted towards red near the end. She also wore yellow high heels, yellow glove sleeves that went all the way up to her elbows. She also wore pearls, yet they were also yellow. She had fairly white skin, though with yellow lipstick and yellow eye shadow.

…Something tells me her favorite color is yellow… Flint guessed, though he could hardly call it a guess.

"Hohoho, hello there, Flint. You're looking quite handsome~" Mixolydia greeted. "As you can guess, I love the color red!"

"Oh… uh… you wear a lot of yellow though," Flint pointed out.

"I wanted red, but everyone kept saying yellow looked better on me. Couldn't fathom why though," Mixolydia shrugged.

"It seems the only one not here is Locria," The first woman remarked. "Though he hasn't joined us in a long time. You can call me Ionia~ Do you think you'll be able to remember that? We did try to pick similar names so it wouldn't be hard to remember. But I do understand if you can't remember all of our names right away, since I just introduced you. Isn't that how it works, Alecy-poo?"

Alec blushed slightly as he replied. "It's been awhile, I'm glad to see you're doing well. But I'm afraid we come at a rather distressing time. We're looking for my grandson, Claus. Did you see a little human boy with orange hair, and a yellow and blue striped shirt come through here with a Pikachu recently?"

The self proclaimed 'Guardians' stayed quiet for a moment as they appeared to be thinking. The one on the armchair, Aeolia, if Flint remembered right, took a moment to sip her cup of tea before speaking up.

"Ah, you must mean that rambunctious little boy that had a Pikachu with him," Aeolia remarked.

"Rambunctious?" Phrygia spoke, seemingly having woken up from their nap. "They didn't seem rambunctious, though they did seem to be in a hurry… I also don't remember seeing a Pikachu with them, and their hair was-"

"You were most likely half asleep my dear," Ionia said so suddenly. "Anyways, as you were saying Aeolia?"

"Oh, well… I suppose that makes this man is that boy's father, I see… yes, I can see the resemblance now. You have the same eyes~" Aeolia giggled that made Flint wonder if she was being flirty, which sent a shiver down his spine.

"Hold on, did you see someone else come through here?" Alec asked.

"I thought I did," Phrygia replied. "The boy almost fit your description, though the colors you described were off, and he didn't have a Pikachu with him."

"Another boy came through here?" Flint frowned. Could it have been Fuel or one of the other kids? But why would they be coming here?

"Like I said, Phrygia could've been out of it, there's no reason to think another human child would come through here, especially by themselves," Ionia spoke up.

"I guess it's not important, we're here for Claus," Alec reminded Flint before turning his attention back to the 'Guardians'. "So where is Claus?"

"He took off," Aeolia answered. "He was in a great hurry, mentioning something about avenging his mother. I couldn't help but notice he had great power sleeping within him. I was feeling generous at the time, so I awakened some of that power for him, though I doubt he'd be able to use it very easily without proper training."

A great power sleeping within him? Flint frowned. What does that mean?

"And you didn't think to stop him?!" Alec questioned. "What if something happened to him?! He's going after a Tyranitar that caused so much destruction, how could you think of sending a little boy to go face that?!"

A haughty laugh drew Flint and Alec's attention, causing them to turn and face the woman in the yellow dress.

"Oh, get over yourselves," Mixolydia remarked as she drew out a yellow folding fan. "We couldn't care less about you humans, here one minute, gone the next. You poor things live a hundred years, if that! That's a blink of an eye for us!"

"How… long are your lifespans?" Flint found himself asking. If they're not human, then what are they? Didn't Alec just said they were cosplaying? Are they just that into their roles?

Mixolydia then closed her fan, giving a sharp glare at Flint. "I figured you wouldn't understand. Why would anyone care about such short lives?"

"Now, now, Mixolydia, humans worry about such short lives. After all, a lifetime is something anyone would worry about. Many Pokemon also worry about such short lives," Doria spoke up, despite being the most punk looking one of the group, he seemed to understand why others care about their seemingly 'short' lives.

"Isn't that right, Alecy-poo?~ I understand how you feel," Doria grinned.

It seemed like it didn't matter if it was man or woman, these 'Guardians' seemed to like to hit on them. Flint wondered if these people were alright in the head. Maybe they spent too much time cosplaying…

Flint then shook his head, they didn't have time for this. "Look, I don't care if you understand or not. Just tell us where Claus went, this is an emergency!"

"Murkrow!" Krow spoke up, getting quite antsy himself.

"No need to be rude, Murkrow," Lydia huffed at the dark bird. "Alec, you must watch that Pokemon of yours, such a colorful language they have."

Flint raised an eyebrow at Lydia. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if they either could understand Murkrow, or they've been cosplaying for so long that they just believe they could.

"The boy went deeper into Mt. Silver," Aeolia sighed. "Quite rambunctious, I might add. Barely seemed concerned over his own short little life. If you go now, you might catch him in time~"

"Deeper into Mt. Silver you say?" Alec frowned. "Flint, let's hurry!"

"And that other boy, if he may or may not exist, seemed to have been heading in the same direction," Phyrgia spoke up. "Do let me know if you see him."

Flint and Alec hurried out of the strange Heart Scale house. Flint was already running to get deeper into Mt. Silver, but he and Alec would have to go into a dark cave inside the mountain. Navigating through the darkness would be a challenge.

"Flint," Alec said. "I know you're worried about Claus, but try not to be so tense. That angry look on your face will only bring us trouble. Try to relax."

"Krow, Murkrow?" Krow frowned.

"Alec…I just lost my wife, and I am racing against time to save my son before it's too late, so don't tell me to try and relax!" Flint growled.

"Flint…you're not the only one who lost someone," Alec replied while placing a hand on Flint's shoulder. "But if we want to save your son, you need to keep a level head. We can't afford to make any mistakes, especially if we let anger cloud our judgment. Don't repeat what happened last time. I heard from the others about how you reacted after learning of Hinawa's passing. Your son does not need a rageful man, but a father worried about his safety. So I'll say one more time, try to relax, not for me but for your sons."

Flint let out a sigh. "Alright, I'll try to keep a cool head, but try not to slow us down."

The two of them hurried into the cave. Flint had been right, it was dark inside. Maybe Claus is still stumbling around because of the poor lighting here? … No, he has Sparks with him. That Pikachu could light up the area around them pretty easily.

"It's pretty dark here," Alec said. "But never fear. I've been here many times, just leave it to me."

"Yeah, I could leave it to you and your faulty memory, or I could just do this," Flint said as he took out his Level Ball, pressed a button to expand it, then he tossed it to have the ball open up and released the Pokemon inside it. "Firebolt, light up the way for us."

The Ampharos nodded before the red orb on its tail glowed brightly, lighting up the cave instantly.

"Isn't this so much easier?" Flint grinned.

Alec humphed before replying. "I suppose so, though back in my day, we didn't have to rely on Pokemon to provide light in dark caverns. We had to use our sense of directions and memory to traverse these caves."

"Okay, then next time we have to go exploring in these caves, if we aren't in a hurry, we'll use your method," Flint sarcastically remarked. "For now, let's keep on going."

Firebolt looked at Flint and Alec. "They seem to be arguing a lot."

"A lot has happened. Alec is trying to get Flint to relax, and Flint is trying to get to Claus before the boy gets himself and Sparks killed. Honestly, I can't believe how foolish that boy is," Krow grumbled. "He must take after his father."

"Flint is a very patient man. He only reacts angrily when something really bad is happening," Firebolt replied.

"So I take it you heard about what happened to Hinawa then?" Krow asked.

"...Yeah…I remember when Lucas and Claus were brought home, and seeing how distraught both were. I overheard some of the villagers talking about what had happened, as well as how Flint reacted," Firebolt frowned.

"That must've been quite troubling for you to hear," Krow remarked.

"That wasn't the first time Flint reacted like that," Firebolt shared, recalling how Flint used to be. "Flint never really went with being a Pokemon Trainer, instead deciding to focus on helping on the farm. At the time I was only a Mareep, but a couple of Houndour had managed to steal some of the flock, me and my mother included. By the time Flint arrived, my mother was already gone, as well as some of the other Mareep. I was saved for last because of how small I was back then. That's when I first saw Flint, with no Pokemon of his own, go into a blind rage and fend off the pack of Houndour. I was terrified back then, and it took some time for me to grow close to Flint afterwards, yet he cared deeply for me, making sure I was always taken care of. I received the nickname 'Firebolt' that day, since I had survived the flames of the Houndour and Flint's wrath."

"Wow, I didn't think there was an actual story behind your name and why Flint chose to train you out of all those flock of Mareep," Krow noted. "Wait, you said a pack of Houndour ate your family? Is that why you never really look at Boney?"

Firebolt grumbled slightly at the thought of Boney. "I will always respect Flint's decision, doesn't mean I have to like it. I'll admit that mongrel has done nothing to bring harm to the family, but my feelings towards all Houndour will stay the same. If it wasn't for the fact that Flint had agreed to keep that dark fire mutt, I would've sought it myself to shock the beast out of our home."

"I'm more surprised Flint adopted a Houndour to be his little Mareep helper," Krow remarked. "Especially after what happened to you and your family."

"It wasn't supposed to be a Houndour. Originally, he and Hinawa thought they got a Growlithe egg from a vendor who was selling Pokemon eggs," Firebolt sighed. "The egg turned out to be a Houndour instead of a Growlithe. Apparently the egg's parents were a Houndoom and an Arcanine. I guess they thought it was going to be a Growlithe since the egg was orange and black. That's normal for Growlithe eggs, they have black stripes after all. But I guess the egg had more black than normal, that probably should've been a sign that it wasn't a Growlithe egg…"

"Would you have gotten along with Boney if he had been a Growlithe?" Krow asked.

"I would've gotten along with Boney if he was any other Pokemon besides Houndour," Firebolt huffed.

"You ever wonder what Pokemon talk about?" Alec asked Flint as they were walking, seeing Krow and Firebolt seeming to have a conversation with each other, a conversation neither of them could understand.

"Sometimes… Claus would ask me the same question," Flint sighed. "Though if I had to guess, Firebolt and Krow are likely just catching up since they hadn't seen each other since Firebolt was a Mareep, and before I gave Firebolt his nickname."

"And I take it you two are still close as ever?" Alec asked as he looked at the Ampharos.

"Well, not only was he my first Pokemon, but after the incident with the Houndour and rescuing Firebolt, I felt responsible for the little Mareep having lost his mother, as well as most of the other Mareep. I wanted to take care of him, help him grow, and together we helped keep the farm safe. In fact, we had hardly lost any battle against any wild Pokemon or stragglers who tried to sneak their way onto our farm. While Firebolt had grown strong, it was later when we faced our first defeat together," Flint shared.

"Ah, I believe I remember hearing about this, though from a certain young Trainer with a Bayleef at the time," Alec chuckled, recalling Hinawa's first encounter with Flint.

"It was a slow day, I had already finished all the field work, and Firebolt was being restless that day, perhaps he needed to let out some built up energy, or maybe he was just bored. After meeting Hinawa, I agreed to having a Pokemon battle with her, thinking it would give Firebolt a good chance to get some action. Imagine both our surprises when Sunny ends up beating Firebolt," Flint couldn't help but laugh at the memory, recalling his shocked expression.

"Why you gotta bring that up?! I was…going easy on that Bayleef!" Firebolt huffed, though his cheeks were slightly red.

Alec also laughed, noticing Firebolt's reaction. "Looks like your Ampharos remembers that fight, though he probably would rather forget it."

Firebolt sighed. "Still though… I liked Sunny, he was fun to be around, even if he was able to beat me every time we battled… I hate that he's gone now…"

Flint sighed. "I normally prefer leaving Firebolt with the Mareep to keep them safe, which was why I took Boney with me when the forest was on fire instead of Firebolt. But I need Firebolt for this… we're going to need all the help we can get if this Tyranitar goes on another rampage."

"Yeah, I get it," Alec said.

They walked into some Zubat that were flying around in the cave, they were easily dealt with. A few Geodude and Diglett were watching them with curiosity. At least they weren't being hostile.

Flint, Alec, and Firebolt had to climb a few vines. Krow could just fly or stay on Alec's shoulder.

They finally reached the top of the cave, and headed outside. As they did, they saw some of those Swinub people running into a round, metal machine.

"It's them!" Flint pointed out. "The people in the Swinub costume that reconstructed that Stantler!"

The Swinub people shut the door and the round machine they were in suddenly took off into the sky.

"I wonder what they were doing…" Alec frowned. "It can't be good if they're going around reconstructing wild Pokemon…"

They suddenly heard what sounded like a roar from a large creature in the distance. Before Flint or Alec could question it, they felt a slight tremor all of a sudden. Once the shaking had subsided, both Alec and Flint regained their bearings, both having a worried look on their face. Krow landed back on Alec's shoulder while Firebolt took a minute to get back up.

"You don't think Claus already found-" Alec started, worried about the worst possible outcome.

"Come on, we don't have much time," Flint cutted, refusing to even think about that outcome.

Alec nodded as the two continued onward. The only good thing about the roar and slight tremor from before is that it caused most of the nearby Pokemon to go seek shelter. Their instincts had already told them that danger was coming, and they sought to be as far away from it as possible.

As Flint and Alec traversed the mountain path, the duo suddenly stopped when they saw a creature coming towards them. At first Firebolt prepared to attack the oncoming Pokemon, only for Alec to place his arm in front of the Ampharos.

"Wait, that's a Larvitar, a young one at that!" Alec warned.

If it wasn't for Alec, Flint might've let Firebolt go on with his attack. He was too tense at the moment. As well, it was just now that Flint noticed the Larvitar carrying something. The Larvitar seemed like it wanted to approach Alec and Flint, but was hesitant at seeing Firebolt, so the small Pokemon opted to drop the item on the ground.

"Lar! Larvitar!" The Larvitar cried out, hoping Alec and Flint would somehow understand their intention.

Before Flint or Alec could approach the Larvitar, the Pokemon ran off, afraid to stay and risk being attacked.

"What did that Larvitar drop?" Alec wondered.

Flint approached the item and bent down to pick it up. It was a shoe… it was too small to fit an adult, it was likely a child's shoe. Flint turned pale as he recognized the shoe.

"This is… Claus's favorite shoe…" Flint frowned.

"That Larvitar…Do you think it might've seen Claus?" Alec asked. "Maybe it's trying to help us find him."

Flint looked at where the Larvitar had run off, having a sick feeling in his gut. He shook away the feeling, knowing that now wasn't the time to hesitate or worry. He needed to act, and fast.

"It's our best shot, let's go!" Flint said, putting the shoe away in a pocket, already moving forward without waiting for Alec.

Firebolt was already behind Flint, with Alec catching up while his Murkrow flew up ahead to try and spot Claus. While rushing through the mountain path, a few Sudowoodo, having been startled by the tremor from before, tried attacking Flint and his group. Thankfully Firebolt made quick work, but Flint had some concern. He needed Firebolt to be in his best shape for the possible battle with the Tyranitar. He had no idea how powerful the Pokemon was, and only hoped that Firebolt would be able to handle the battle.

"Murkrow! Krow, Krow!" The group looked up to see Krow returning, having spotted something ahead.

Following the Murkrow, the group soon came to a stop, Flint dreading what he saw. For before him was the very same machine he and Duster had come across before, the one where that poor Stantler was experimented on. But unlike the previous machine, this one was destroyed, almost beyond recognition.

"What is this?" Alec asked as he knelt down to better examine the damaged machine.

Flint gulped, before it was only a theory from Alec, but seeing this machine, it only convinced Flint of what he dreaded. But that dread was soon replaced with anger, as well as determination. Anger towards those Swinub men who caused so much pain and destruction. Determination to find and rescue Claus before it was too late.

"It looks like the machine that was used to change the Stantler, but way bigger," Flint warned before he looked around. "It almost looked like a fight went through here. There's a lot more cracks and open ravines than there should be."

"We better hurry," Alec said.

Things had gotten quiet since they started climbing to the top of Mt. Silver. That made Flint uneasy. That meant the battle was likely over. Were they too late? Was Claus… Flint shook his head, he needed to believe Claus escaped and was hiding right now.

They hurried up a steep slope, eventually coming onto some snow. The top of Mt. Silver was cold, cold enough for it to have snow on it. They saw a sign of a struggle, lots of footprints that were scrambled all over the place. But they didn't see any signs of Claus or that other boy Phrygia mentioned, nor did they see the Tyranitar.

Krow flew ahead of them and landed, having spotted something with his keen eye. He picked up the thing he spotted with his beak and flew back to Alec, dropping another shoe into his hands.

"Oh no…" Alec paled, showing Flint what was in his hands. "It's…Claus's other shoe…"

For a split second Flint's heart skipped a beat, but he refused to believe the worst had happened. "That doesn't mean anything, Claus is still out here somewhere. We'll keep looking until we find him!"

Alec could see the anger rising in Flint, but only nodded. "Just remember what I said earlier."

Flint was still tense but he took a deep breath. He was still angry inside but knew losing himself to his anger would only make things worse. For now he only kept his focus on finding Claus.

"Claus! Where are you?!" Alec shouted, hoping to find his grandson and help his son-in-law. "Krow, go see if you can spot the boy anywhere."

"Mur-" Krow began to say when something seemed to have caught his attention.

Almost immediately, Krow flew off of Alec's shoulder and over the cliff.

"Do you see something, Krow?" Alec called out.

"Amph!" Firebolt suddenly looked to be on alert.

"What is it, Firebolt?" Flint asked, knowing when something had Firebolt's attention, it was best to be on alert.

Suddenly, something heavy began to move. It was so heavy that it caused the ground to shake a little. Flint, Alec, and Firebolt saw a large creature that looked like a Tyranitar walking out from behind a large rock formation. It slowly moved out, seeming to be tired.

As the creature turned to face them, Alec, Flint, and even Firebolt stepped back a little. The Tyranitar looked different from other Tyranitar.

This Tyranitar had more gaps in its armor than a normal Tyranitar. It had four new triangular holes along the sides of its neck, and one on its throat. The four holes on its chest are now larger with the top two containing red ovals. While the spikes along the back of its neck grow shorter, the ones on its head elongate to form prominent ridges along its brows. The center spike on its head becomes a long, upright horn. Its chest plate expands, curving over its shoulders and along its back to form three long, irregular spikes on each side of its body. The scales on this Tyranitar's belly have now become red instead of blue and seemed to be seething with had two sharp spikes on its knees, as well as more prominent leg joints. Its tail was lengthened, with the three spikes surrounding its tip growing upward and outward.

There were other obvious differences, one of the Tyranitar's eyes seemed to have metal on it, and was glowing an unnatural red. Its under jaw appeared to be made out of metal, one of its legs was mechanical, the tip of its tail was replaced with metal as well, and one of its claws appeared to be more machine than natural claw.

The strange Tyranitar let out a roar, shaking the entire area. Flint noticed that the Tyranitar was covered in scratches, there were chips in its tough hide, and the metallic parts looked to be dented, some parts looked fried a little. But despite the fact that it looked like it already went through a tough battle itself, it still looked strong enough to fight.

"That… that's not a Tyranitar anymore…" Alec said in horror.

Despite how different it looked from the average Tyranitar, there was one detail that caught Flint's attention. While it was roaring, Flint noticed one of its fangs was missing, and immediately recalled the night when he was shown that Tyranitar fang, of what happened to Hinawa and Sunny.

"...No…that's the monster that took Hinawa away from me and her sons!" Flint growled.

Before Alec could even try and give some words of wisdom, the Mecha Tyranitar charged forward, its very stomps causing small tremors within the mountain.

Krow flew back towards Alec and Flint, seeming to be in distress about something, but neither Alec nor Flint had time to figure out what was Krow distressed about.

"Krow, use Haze!" Alec ordered upon seeing Krow return. He knew it was more meant for negating any stat changes a Pokemon might've taken, but it was also a useful move for blinding an opponent.

Krow was still in the sky when Alec called out the order, the Murkrow began flapping its wings quickly, covering the area in a dark fog.

Despite this, the Tyranitar's eyes kept looking straight at them. Flint noticed the mechanical looking eye was glowing. It didn't seem bothered by the fog at all. It gave another roar before it punched the ground with its non-mechanical claw. The area shook as giant, black glowing stones began popping up from the ground.

"Look out!"

The Stone Edge was chasing after them.

"Firebolt! Use Dragon Pulse on the Stone Edge!" Flint ordered.

The Ampharos shot out a powerful blast of blue and purple energy from its mouth. The energy hit the Stone Edge, breaking them apart and clearing the way.

"Now use Confuse Ray!" Flint quickly instructed.

Firebolt ran at the Tyranitar. The Tyranitar opened its jaws, looking ready to bite down on the incoming Ampharos despite missing a fang. Firebolt's forehead orb, and tail orb, glowed in several different colors brightly in front of the Tyranitar. The Tyranitar shook its head, and closed its organic eye. The other eye was still beeping. Firebolt's eyes went wide when the Tyranitar managed to bite down on his side.

Firebolt let out a cry of pain before letting out a burst of electricity from its body, shocking the Tyranitar until it let go.

"How did the Tyranitar know where to attack?!" Alec asked. "It should've been blinded by Krow's Haze, as well as confused."

"I think it has to do with that mechanical eye," Flint pointed out. "It's acting like some kind of separate consciousness. As long as that eye is there, the Tyranitar will still be able to target our Pokemon directly."

"Then let us focus on distracting it while you and Firebolt aim to damage it," Alec replied. "Krow, focus on that Tyranitar's mechanical eye, draw its attention towards you and use Wing Attack on the eye."

Krow flew around, avoiding the Tyranitar's attacks until he could find a good opportunity to attack the mechanical eye.

"Come on, Firebolt!" Flint called out, holding onto the lumber he brought with him as a weapon.

Firebolt looked at Flint in concern, but he knew his Trainer would go headfirst into the battle no matter how dangerous. Firebolt ran ahead while Flint ran behind him. Firebolt's body crackled with electricity before firing a strong Thunderbolt attack at the Tyranitar. The Tyranitar hissed in pain as Flint jumped in and smashed the lumber against the Tyranitar's stomach. Unfortunately, the lumber broke into pieces when he did, and the attack looked like it hardly bothered the Tyranitar.

Flint quickly ran back, seeing his only weapon failed to phase the massive monster. "I don't have any way to damage the Tyranitar myself…"

"If only we had the Tyranitar fang…" Alec frowned.

The Tyranitar angrily ran at Firebolt, who was doing his best to hold the Tyranitar back, not wanting it to hurt his Trainer and Alec. Krow flew in at the mechanical eye and tried to hit it with his wing, but it didn't do much damage. All that did was cause the Tyranitar to look at Krow angrily. Krow quickly flew away as fast as he could, if he got hit by the Tyranitar's moves, he was as good as dead.

"Firebolt can't hold that monster back for long!" Flint hissed.

"We have a bigger problem now!" Alec warned.

The group felt immense pressure from the Tyranitar as it grew tired of the Murkrow and instead turned its attention back to Flint, Alec and Firebolt. It leaned forward while opening its maw, gathering energy of light from within. Flint and Alec paled, knowing what kind of move the Tyranitar was about to use. Flint tried to think of the best solution, if they should attack and try to stop it, or try to take cover. The Tyranitar seemed hardly fazed by any of their attacks, only being annoyed by them, and Flint doubted that there was anything here that could provide a strong enough cover.

Flint couldn't figure out what to do, and part of him was starting to think that this was it, that this was the end. He had failed his two sons and his wife. He couldn't even imagine facing Hinawa after failing to even save Claus.

But then, from the corner of Flint's eyes, he saw something flying towards the Tyranitar. Just as the mechanized beast was about to launch Hyper Beam, the strange object collided into the Tyranitar's mechanical eye, piercing and lodging itself into it. The Tyranitar reared back in pain just as it released Hyper Beam, causing the attack to be blasted towards the sky, a few feet above Flint, Alec, and Firebolt. They all looked to see the beam attack stretch on for miles until it finally ceased.

Turning their attention back to the Tyranitar roaring in pain, Flint gasped as he recognized the item that had struck the Tyranitar's eye. It looked like some kind of dagger that was fashioned from some kind of fang, but not any normal fang. This was the very same fang that Bronson had shown him the night Hinawa had died. The very same fang that Bronson told him that he made into a weapon for him. The Tyranitar was flailing around in pain, trying to get the dagger out until it finally fell out of its eye, hitting the ground.

The Tyranitar was still distracted, so Flint didn't waste any time running forward and grabbing the dagger. He looked back at the moment, trying to figure out where the dagger had come from, but the Tyranitar was now stomping on the ground, causing it to shake. Flint didn't have time to try to figure out where the dagger came from or who threw it. Right now he just thanked his lucky stars that the mysterious person had helped them.

With the Tyranitar fang in hand, Flint used the dagger to slash at the Tyranitar's hide. The dagger did actual damage, creating a new scratch on the tough exterior.

"We may still be able to win!" Flint called out. "That mechanical eye is damaged and I had the fang as a weapon in my hands!"

"Alright, but be careful. Even a cornered Rattata is still a dangerous one," Alec warned.

With the mechanical eye gone, they may be able to confuse the Tyranitar now. "Firebolt, use Confuse Ray!"

Firebolt got in front of the Tyranitar and flashed the orbs on his forehead and tail again. This time the Tyranitar became confused from all the flashing lights, and began hitting its head against a rock formation, doing some damage to itself.

"Now use Fire Punch! Try to burn it!" Flint ordered.

One of Firebolt's flipper-like arms began to burn with fire, he charged at the monstrous Tyranitar and punched its stomach as hard as he could. The Fire Punch itself didn't do much damage, but it did set the Tyranitar ablaze for a moment.

"Krow, use Haze, cover yourself in the dark fog!" Alec commanded.

The Murkrow flapped his wings, creating the dark fog around the Tyranitar and he disappeared into the fog himself, using his dark feathers to blend in. The confused Tyranitar roared in frustration as it tried to use Crunch, though it only ended up biting on a rock, shattering it.

"Now use Foul Play!" Alec called.

While in the Haze, Krow flew at the Tyranitar. His body glowed with a red aura and he smashed into the Tyranitar's back. The Tyranitar let out a loud cry of pain before it jumped back and smashed Krow into the rock formation. Krow let out a squawk of pain. The Tyranitar then turned around, seeming to have snapped out of confusion, and was about to smash Krow in with Stone Edge.

Seeing this, Alec quickly took out a black looking Poke Ball with green spots on it. "Krow, return!"

Not wanting the Murkrow to get smashed, he sent out the energy beam at Krow and returned him back into the dark Poke Ball before Tyranitar could smash him.

"You think I'll let you kill Krow? Sorry, I'm not done with my Murkrow," Alec said before he tossed the dark Poke Ball once more. "We're not finished yet, Krow!"

The dark Poke Ball opened up, releasing the Murkrow once more. Krow was a little hurt, but he was still good to keep going.

The Tyranitar rushed at them, angry now. It jumped high suddenly and landed on the ground, causing an Earthquake. The ground began to crack underneath them. Firebolt grabbed onto Flint's waist and pulled him away just as the ground cracked under him. Alec managed to move away, though the shaking made it difficult to move.

"Oof… this isn't good for my lower back!" Alec growned, bending over in pain.

Tyranitar was right up in front of Flint and Firebolt. Both of them moved quickly, though Flint got hit by the Tyranitar's tail, and he hit his back against a rock. Firebolt ran in front of Flint just as the Tyranitar opened its maw, powering up another attack once again.

Firebolt braced himself as the Tyranitar fired a black beam of destruction shot at Firebolt. Firebolt shut his eyes. A blue barrier suddenly appeared around Firebolt's body, catching the dazed Flint's attention. Flint shook his head, trying to snap out of his daze, surprised when he saw the barrier around Firebolt. The Hyper Beam smashed into Firebolt. It still did quite a bit of damage, but the barrier seemed to have protected Firebolt from the worst of it.

What…? Did Firebolt learn Protect? … No, that's not how Protect works… And that certainly doesn't look like Light Screen… Flint frowned in confusion.

When the Hyper Beam finally ended, the barrier went down. Firebolt shook his head. He was hurt and tired, but he was still conscious.

Flint noticed that the Hyper Beam took a lot out of the Tyranitar as well. With Krow still capable of fighting, they may have a chance.

"Alec!" Flint called. "Have Krow distract the Tyranitar!"

Alec didn't know what Flint had in mind, but he decided to trust the man. "Krow! Use Haze once more and keep the Tyranitar busy! Try your best not to get caught!"

"Murkrow!" Krow responded as he flew up and created another dark fog around the Tyranitar.

Krow flew into the fog, using Foul Play and Wing Attack to keep the Tyranitar's attention on him. Tyranitar let out an angry roar, annoyed at this Murkrow, though it was too tired from the Hyper Beam to do much other than swat at the bird.

Thanks to Krow's efforts, Flint had taken this chance to share with Firebolt his next, and hopefully, final attack. Firebolt was at first unsure of Flint's plan, but knew to always trust his decisions. So while Flint prepared to move forward with his plans, Firebolt began to charge up energy from within. The Ampharos truly hoped this plan would work, or else he would be left too exhausted to fend off the Tyranitar.

With the Tyranitar too distracted, Flint charged forward. By the time the Tyranitar took notice of the charging human, it was too late. Flint leaped forward, pouring all his anger and hate into his thrust as he made contact with the Tyranitar's chest, causing it to roar out in pain. But Flint wasn't done there, as he took the chance to jump away, landing on the ground as he looked up towards his Ampharos.

"Now Firebolt!" Flint ordered.

Barely able to hold onto the built up energy, Firebolt used Thunderbolt and unleashed all the electric energy towards where Flint had stabbed the Tyranitar, having left the dagger embedded into the chest. Using it as a lightning rod, the Thunderbolt connected, sending all the built up electric energy into the Tyranitar's body. The mechanized beast could do nothing but roar, its body disobeying its commands.

With Firebolt's remaining energy all spent, the Thunderbolt finally ceased, causing the Ampharos to fall down on his knees, exhaustion taking hold of his body. Flint quickly got up to help support his Pokemon before turning to look at the Tyranitar. Its body still was standing, but there were electric sparks flying occasionally from its body. For a moment Flint and Alec thought that the attack wasn't enough, that the Tyranitar would continue with its rampage, but then suddenly it started leaning to the side. With a mighty fall, the Tyranitar fell to the ground on its side, causing the grounds to shake momentarily.

"We… we did it…" Flint tiredly said.

But to their dismay, the Tyranitar was still breathing. Flint saw that the dagger had dislodged itself from the mechanized beast, and knew the job wasn't done. Flint slowly went and grabbed the dagger, knowing that if the Tyranitar wasn't stopped now, it would most likely go on another rampage later. Flint prepared to make one final attack, to end it all.

"Larvi!" A small cry came from under one of the rocks, stopping Flint from proceeding to end Tyranitar's life.

The small Larvitar Flint and Alec saw earlier ran over to the Tyranitar. The Tyranitar weakly looked at the Larvitar as the Larvitar started to hug and nuzzle the Tyranitar's nose.

"Flint…" Alec spoke up. "This is… that child's parent. That Tyranitar… could it be?"

"What?" Flint frowned.

"The alpha Tyranitar… the one Lucas and Claus were playing with yesterday…" Alec frowned. "What… what did those Swinub people do to you, girl? She loved playing with the kids… She's also this Larvitar's mother, and… Sunny's mate. Are you sure you want to kill her, Flint?"

"How can you even ask that?!" Flint shouted.

"Cause you'll be forcing that child to go through the very same thing Lucas and Claus did," Alec countered. "The Larvitar already lost its father… do you really want it to lose its mother too?"

Flint hesitated. "But what else are we supposed to do? If we leave it, it'll go on another rampage."

"You said you caught a Stantler that was also… robotized, right?" Alec asked. "Do you have another Poke Ball on you?"

"...Only one, I didn't exactly plan on catching any Pokemon on the way here," Flint replied as he held up an empty Poke Ball. "But…after everything that's happened, you expect me to…"

"No, I don't…but we both know what Hinawa would have wanted," Alec stated.

Flint tried to think of any reason to finish this, he tried to hold onto that anger inside, but the mention of Hinawa, as well as the thought of this Larvitar having gone through the same trauma Lucas and Claus did caused the fire in Flint's heart to flicker. He knew deep down that Hinawa would be telling him the same thing, that it wasn't Tyranitar's fault and that they should take this chance to save her.

"...Fine…" Flint finally said.

He drew back his arms and threw the Poke Ball at the Tyranitar, but to his and Alec's surprise, the Larvitar tackled the Poke Ball away.

"Larvitar!" The Larvitar yelled defensively.

"There goes our only way of saving the Tyranitar!" Flint huffed.

"It's just a baby, it thinks you were going to hurt its mother again…" Alec frowned.

Though Flint was right, if they didn't do something soon, the Tyranitar was going to die from her injuries. She looked at the Larvitar, then at Flint, Alec, Krow, and Firebolt. As if just realizing all the damage she had done, the Tyranitar's organic eye began to release tears. She was crying. For the first time since that horrible night, when the Swinub people changed her, her mind was clear from all that rage and anger. And she realized in horror what she had done. She was crying out of sorrow and regret. Her mate, she had killed the Meganium who had stolen her heart… she had killed his beloved Trainer, and the two boys she played with that day.

The Poke Ball suddenly rolled back to Flint, tapping his leg. Flint looked at the Poke Ball in shock and picked it up. He didn't understand why or how the Poke Ball came back to him, but he had another chance to maybe save the Tyranitar. The Larvitar looked at Flint before it backed away suddenly, looking down.

"This may be your only chance, Flint," Alec said, surprised that the Poke Ball came back. "Make the decision you won't regret."

Flint sighed, knowing already what decision he had to make. Seeing the Larvitar back down only reinforced that decision. Once again, Flint threw the Poke Ball at the Tyranitar, this time the Larvitar doing nothing to stop him.

As soon as the Poke Ball hit the Tyranitar, the Tyranitar turned into energy and went inside the Poke Ball. The Poke Ball only shook once before it PINGed, signifying the capture. The Tyranitar was either too tired and hurt to put up much of a fight, or it decided to let itself get caught. Flint didn't care either way, at least they had a chance to save the Tyranitar, and… maybe return it back to her former, gentle self.

"What about the Larvitar?" Flint asked. "I don't have another spare Poke Ball."

"Larvi," The Larvitar said, giving a small, sad smile, before he began walking down the mountain by himself.

"The Larvitar has an uncle who can look after him," Alec explained. "He probably realized you're going to help his mother."

"Okay… but where's Claus? And… Vivi? We didn't see the Eevee Hinawa was raising either…" Flint frowned.

Krow's eyes suddenly light up. "Murkrow!"

Krow began flapping his wings frantically. "Murkrow! Krow!"

"I think Krow's found something," Alec realized. "Lead the way!"

"Firebolt, you take a rest, alright?" Flint quickly said to his Ampharos partner before returning him into the Level Ball.

Flint rushed after Alec and Krow, his heart beating against his chest. He didn't know what they were going to find. He hoped Claus was alright and alive as well as Sparks.

They rushed down a steep slope, leading them down the cliff side. They stopped, however, when they didn't see anything. Krow stopped and frowned, he seemed confused.

"Murk… row?" Krow questioned.

Alec frowned as he picked up something. "... Flint…"

Alec held out the little piece of scrap cloth he picked up. Flint saw it looked like a yellow and blue scrap cloth… the same one Claus usually wore. There was yellow hair on the scrap of cloth as well.

"... Krow must've seen Claus and Sparks here, but they seem to have disappeared," Alec guessed. "Do you think he might've gotten up and left?"

"...Maybe…" Flint wondered, trying to see if there were any signs of Claus.

"But…if he could move, why didn't he come towards us?" Alec questioned.

This was something Flint wondered too. Was it because Claus felt guilty? Guilty over being unable to defeat the Tyranitar and avenge his mother? Guilty over realizing how he wanted revenge but perhaps saw Flint sparing the Tyranitar? Or was it guilt and fear over seeing his father, especially with how Flint reacted after hearing news of Hinawa's death? These questions ran through Flint's mind, but he believed Claus was still out there, that it was him who must've thrown the dagger, and rolled the Poke Ball back to him. Whatever reason Claus may have, Flint would not give up on his son.

Handing the Poke Ball to Alec, Flint faced the whole mountain side. "Go and return back to the village, give Wess the Poke Ball and explain what happened here. Me and Firebolt will continue to search for Claus, wherever he may be."

"I suggest you head back home too, you and Firebolt must be exhausted after that battle," Alec said.

"I will… but I want to look around first. Claus could still be nearby. But… if I don't find him, I'll head back before it gets too late," Flint promised. "Now go, please…"

"... Alright, I'll hold you to that… Because you do still have a son waiting for you back home," Alec answered. "I'll be sure to get this Poke Ball back to Professor Wess."

"Thank you," Flint said.

---

Sobbas: DarkFoxKit: I'm not gonna say anything about the whole research of the game. Yes, Flint does care and love his wife, as well as his two children. And it is unfortunate, but Flint does disappear from the game by the time you take control of Lucas. From what I've heard, Flint was originally supposed to go with Lucas for a while, then he would be at home, giving Lucas support and items. But for some reason all of that was cut out, so Flint just… doesn't exist until near the end of the game. I feel like that's lost potential there. We may not have a huge role for Flint ourselves, but we want him to actually exist. That whole scene between Lucas and Claus was something we put in as well, that wasn't in the game either. The game showed Claus moving ahead of Lucas, but there was no dialogue between them. And as you can probably tell, we like broken characters too, maybe a little too much. XD

Traveling Master: Likewise, Duster is a favorite of mine too. And with having him have a partner like Leblanc, it gives us more opportunity to build up his character and his background. And speaking of Leblanc, well one reason we went with her being a Hisuian Sneasel was due to how both that species and Duster specialize in climbing. Second, as for how, we chalked it up to being more of like a recessive gene. Kinda similar to how a shiny Pokemon can occur from an egg, we figured Leblanc's genealogy had some Hisuian blood. But that's the technical side, personally I like both versions of Sneasel and liked the idea of Leblanc being a Hisuian form.

Story wise, it was definitely a surprise when they saw Leblanc appear as a different Sneasel, at first thinking she was some kind of shiny. So for Wess, it's more of a first time discovery. I will say, she wasn't caught, but hatched from an egg, showing why Leblanc and Duster have a strong bond. But there are still precautions that had to be made, so Leblanc wasn't really publicly shown around the village. Only a few really have seen her, fewer more know she belongs to Duster and that she's friendly.

DarkFoxKit: Yeah, Wess is definitely an abusive father to Duster. He caused that permanent limb Duster has, and he always insults him. Wess cares and loves his son, but he believes he has to be strict to get his son to show results. And he has quite a short temper.

Flint needed to explore every path necessary, to find clues on what happened to his wife and children. He doesn't know what happened, he doesn't know where they are. And there was a tree blocking his path around the mountain. For all he knew, this was his best chance of finding them. He did discover some disturbing things, like the Swinub people, and how they fused technology with a Pokemon.

Ah yes, the infamous scene of Flint losing control and going wild. I was carefully watching the whole thing while writing it out. I wanted to do the scene justice as much as I could. I wanted to bring that scene to life through story telling. I felt that it deserved that. And how much Flint's reaction affected Lucas, but mostly Claus. I believe that Claus only went to fight the Drago, or in this case, the Tyranitar was because of how his dad reacted to Hinawa's death. After all, children often watch and imitate what their parents do.

Traveling Master: The death of Hinawa affected everyone deeply, and in many different ways. Some of the townsfolk tried calming Flint down, but you saw that he wasn't listening to reason, he needed an outlet, and you saw how that went. Even afterwards, since you are controlling Flint in the game, you don't really see his reaction afterwards, so we had opportunities to show a grieving father and husband, especially with so much happening in such a short amount of time. And unfortunately, like DarkFoxKit mentioned, that also led to his two sons making the decisions that would change their lives.

At first, that was the intention with following the same path as the game, but we realized it would've felt more like a copy and paste of Mother 3 with just Pokemon. This story takes place in Johto, there's a Pokemon League, and we want to include both attributes of both games into the story. Like we mentioned before, the first few chapters will be similar, but we plan on taking a different path after a certain point.

DarkFoxKit: And like I keep saying, we are planning to make it different from Mother 3 once we get to a certain point. As for your theories, we haven't yet decided if we'll use those Pokemon like Yamask or Hisuian Zorua. But I will say that Hinawa isn't going to reincarnate.

Traveling Master: Cliff isn't out there, she's in another story XD. But this male Larvitar, as well as Vivi, are still out there. That is all I will say about the matter concerning those two.