Hey all, I'm back. The last month or so has been crazy. I started a new job, was hospitalized and had a lot of school work to catch up on. Due to all that I wasn't able to write much. However, I'm hoping to be more active again now. Thanks for all the support once again.

CH 8 Operation Mechanical Mysteries

Mesagoza

Ash had just left the bookstore where he had met with Penny. He had some free time before he had to meet with Iono, so he decided to grab some food. Ash opted for a local burger shop he had been meaning to try. The city had quite a few good places to eat and he was keen to try them all.

The place was relatively empty so he had no problem getting a seat. While he waited for the waitress he heard the door open again and saw Nemona step in.

"I was hoping to run into you!" Nemona greeted him excitedly as she quickly sat at the table with him.

"I was wondering where you were, I haven't seen you around the school."

"Well I was out getting this,"Nemona said, showing him her two badges,"it seems I'm one step ahead of you."

"You've done the Paldea gyms before so that's not too surprising."

"Man I was hoping you'd be more surprised,"Nemona sighed,"guess I'll just have to get even further ahead."

"Do you know what gym you're gonna go after next?"

"Iono probably, though in theory you can do them in any order you want."

"Wait you can?"

"Yeah I thought you knew that. There is a recommended order but it's not a hard requirement, as long as your team is up to the task you can go to whichever gym whenever you want."

That was news to Ash, he was realizing more and more how different Paldea was from all the other regions.

"Oh by the way you wanna hear a juicy rumor?"

This got Ash's interest,"I do yeah."

"Well I heard that people have been seeing some strange mechanical Pokemon around Paldea."

"Strange mechanical Pokemon?"

"Yeah like I haven't seen them myself yet but people online are talking about it. I saw someone talking about a mechanical Tyranitar."

"That's weird, I've never heard about Pokemon like that before."

"Exactly, nobody knows where they came from, it's like they just appeared one day."

This sounded exciting to Ash, surely Gary and Professor Oak would jump at the chance to research this.

"Have you not seen one of these yourself?"

Nemona shook her head,"I've looked around but I have yet to see one myself. According to what I've read there are multiple of them apparently, different ones all across Paldea."

"We could try asking Arven, he might have some ideas about it."

"Ask me about what?"

Nemona and Ash looked up to see Arvem books in hand. Ash figured the stack of books were either for research or his personal writing.

"About some weird mechanical Pokemon I've heard about online."

"Mechanical Pokemon?" Arven asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Yes, Nemona has seen some postings online about strange mechanical Pokemon being spotted across Paldea."

"Now that you mention it I've heard the same thing online,"Arven added,"but I haven't seen any for myself."

"Aww we were hoping you knew more,"Nemona sighed in disappointment.

"Sorry but I think you should ask Iono. Perhaps the people in her streams could help."

"That's a good idea, she had asked me to come up with a topic for a stream tonight."

"How about this, we'll call it Operation Mechanical Mysteries!" Nemona declared loudly.

Ash and Arven could tell Nemona was really into this whole situation. To be fair they were pretty intrigued about it too, the idea of robotic Pokemon was cool. Ash knew he wanted to see some for sure, and maybe even catch one.

"So we're gonna divide this operation into three phases,"Nemona explained," we're in phase one which is information gathering. Ash use the streaming to get info from viewers, Arven and I will gather info by talking to people around Paldea."

"Wait, are we just going to ask random people?" Arven asked.

"I figured we'd start with the students at school, from there we'll move to the other major towns and cities."

"Sounds doable to me, I'll also do some research online too. What's phase two?"

"Phase two is pooling our information and coming up with a plan of capture. Finally phase three is going out there and each catching one of these mechanical Pokemon."

"That's my favorite part,"Ash declared happily,"I can't wait to see what we find out there."

"Normally I'd ask Professor Turo but he's been rather tight-lipped about a lot recently,"Arven sighed,"perhaps I can find a way to see if he knows anything."

"If not, don't sweat it," Nemona reassured him,"we got plenty of avenues to explore here anyway."

"Oh by the way Nemona, got a question for you."

She nodded at Ash, "ask away."

"What do you know about Team Star?"

"Team Star huh, they usually avoid me but I know they've been causing problems for a lot of the students."

"Penny asked for my help in dealing with them, though I have no clue what to expect from them."

"They can be quite unpredictable,"Arven added,"nobody knows who their leader is either."

"I'm willing to bet it's a student, an active one probably."

"I'd agree with Nemona, that would make the most sense," Arven agreed.

"Just be careful, you usually find them in large groups so I'd expect a big fight if you go after them."

"Should we all maybe team up then?" Ash asked.

Arven shook his head,"if Penny asked for you specifically then I'd keep it that way. Having too many people involved could compromise the mission after all."

"Alright, well I gotta get ready for Iono's podcast later."

"Good luck Ash, don't forget to talk about the mechanical Pokemon!"

Later that day

"Hey wazzup interwebs, Iono here ready to rock and roll and knock your socks off!"

"Yeah what she said!" Ash exclaimed not sure how to follow her up properly.

"We got a great show for y'all today, filled with sex, drugs and rock'n'roll!"

"Wait Iono you can't say that!" He was still not used to her odd outbursts.

"Oh right we can't afford to get demonetized," Iono said lounging back in her chair,"now then tonight's topic is…mysteries!"

The two had decided to open up the show with Ash's investigation into the mysterious mechanical Pokemon. He was hoping they could at least get some good leads out of it. If not it would at least make for a good show.

"Now then Ash how about you start us off!"

"Oh okay,"Ash said composing himself,"so I heard something really interesting today."

"Ohh what is it do tell the dear audience."

"People have been spotting unidentified mechanical Pokemon around Paldea, like a robot Tyranitar."

"Wait really, damn that's cool as hell bro!"

He wasn't sure why she was acting so surprised as he had told her earlier about it. Perhaps she was hamming it up for the show.

"Yeah but I don't know much about them unfortunately."

"Well that's no fun, but that's why our listeners are here of course,"Iono declared,"to everyone here, we need your help. If you know or find out anything about these mysterious Pokemon let us know please!"

"Exactly what Iono said, I was hoping you all could help us find out more."

"That's your homework for tonight folks, but we do have a lot more planned for tonight. Like our next topic…love lives!"

"Wait what Iono?"

"You heard me, our love lives!"

"Wait no I didn't sign up for that!"

"Oh come on...everyone wants to know about that…specially the females out there. You got a lot of admirers, world champ."

"I have no comment on that."

"I haven't even asked you the question yet!"

"I'm not answering it."

"Aww I was going to say that we would answer my questions together…"

"No I'm not answering Iono."

Iono sighed, she was sure a topic like that would have gotten them tons of more attention. She'd have to come up with some other scheme.

"Alright fine, how about another topic then,"Iono sighed pivoting the conversation,"how about you tell our viewers what it's like being the world champ?"

"That's good with me, let's see, I will say it isn't as exciting as people would think."

"Wait, why not?"

"Well for one you don't get many real challengers. Aside from other champions and Elite Four members most people don't wanna battle you."

"Have you ever thought about trying to take Lance's title as Kanto champion? Since it is your home region?"

Ash had to think a moment before answering,"it's something I have considered but I don't have any plans to currently."

"Aww I just thought it may be cool for you to be the champ of your home region."

"It would but I consider Alola to be my second home, so it's just as important to me."

"Now to move onto my next question, the Masters Eight, opinions on your opponents?"

That was something he hadn't thought about in a while, each individual battle. It was a major event in his life but it was just the first major step to his future.

"Well Steven is probably the one I knew the least. I only met him once and when I did I had no clue he was the Hoenn champion at the time. I was more familiar with Wallace. Cynthia was probably the one I wanted to battle the most aside from Leon. I met her a number of times and I had dreamed of getting a chance to battle her in a full battle. That battle was even tougher than I had thought it'd be, but then again it was Cynthia."

"Anyone you had wished you had battled there?"

"Alain probably, would have been cool to have a re-match but there's always next time."

"Thoughts on next year's competition?"

"I'm looking forward to it, it'll be a lot different as number one but it'll be fun. Having all those other strong trainers coming after my title."

Iono nodded her head,"indeed, but now here in Paldea they view you as just a normal strong trainer, any opinions on that?"

"I actually had a question for you Iono."

"Oooh yeah shoot!"

" Give me some insight as a Paldea gym leader, was there any buzz about me deciding to compete in the gym challenge?"

"There was a ton of buzz actually. Champion Geeta found out you were going to help teach at Uva Academy and figured you were doing the gym challenge, so she told the Elite Four members as well as us gym leaders. All of us were super pumped knowing we'd get to battle you. After all, it's not every day we get a world champion as a competitor here."

Ash was happy to hear this, going to a new region was always exciting, but it was even better knowing that people had been looking forward to it. It was also nice just to feel like a regular trainer again for the first time in a while.

"Well I hope I can live up to everyone's expectations then."

"Oh I'm sure you will, now then what advice do you have for all the rookie trainers out there?"

"My biggest piece of advice is that even if you lose, you get back up and continue where you left off from."

"Care to elaborate?"

"I competed in pretty much every league, I won my first one after eight attempts. I could have called it quits a long time ago, but I didn't,"Ash answered,"no matter how tough the loss was, I moved on to the next challenge. Was I disappointed after each loss, of course. That's normal though, what matters is what you do after each loss."

"Now that's what I call an inspirational message, yes folks even the world champion has struggled in the past. Take those words to heart please. I think that's how I want to end tonight's show, remember to keep your eyes and ears open for any mechanical Pokemon and we'll see you next week!"