Hybrid: Topaz Edition

by LuxBeacon

Our story centers around Topaz Heart, nephew of Volkner. He has set his sights on becoming a gym trainer worthy of the Sinnoh League, but in order to do that he takes risks. So many risks. Assaulting smugglers, beating up gang members, infiltrating terrorist bases, actually crazy rivals, getting lost underground and being a huge nerd. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

30. Scholar vs Witch (Ch30)

AN: 18k views and over 100 followers and favorites each! Thank you so much everyone and we apologize for the delay. Here's an extra long chapter for your troubles! Happy new year!

[] = Telepathy dialogue.

---

Topaz's time in Jubilife has been well spent. Holyn has been growing steadily and his teammates are working well, but it is time to depart to their next destination. All seems well, yet I sense a disturbance. An irksome one at that.

~x1x~

Location: Jubilife City

[Topaz, why are you stalling?]

I turned around to see Roland with his arms crossed, scowling at me. Not a mean scowl. A neutral scowl. I could tell.

"I'm busy. There's some work I needed to get done for Volkner and I wanted to look into the Pokedex a bit more," I informed him before resuming my tasks on my laptop. There was no one close by, but I still elected to whisper to avoid prying eyes. Being able to understand pokemon attracted tedious attention.

I had found myself in a pleasant teahouse, drinking a sagely peppermint tea accompanied with a chocolate croissant. After spending three days straight training, my team was relaxing in the booth enjoying their own little meals. Except Roland, as usual.

Meanwhile, I was lamenting the fact we didn't get the chance to try out any teahouses in Oreburgh. I had heard they sprinkled gemstones into their chamomile. The best we got was the hotel cafeteria, although it was surprisingly adequate.

[It can be done in Sandgem Town or at best the train. I see no reason why we must remain here any longer.]

"Hmmm." I hummed in thought, ignoring his concerns as I finished the last line of code. I uploaded it to Volkner before I began addressing the progress reports on the new starters training. He technically didn't assign me this, but it's just more efficient if I do it.

Holyn yawned in the corner, dozing off slightly. He was having a little trouble waking up for the group's early morning routine, but he seemed to genuinely enjoy eating breakfast at sunrise and allowing the sunbeams to warm his body.

Donut and Lou were enjoying their morning pastries pleasantly as always. We were lucky to find such a quiet cafe in a city like Jubilife. Nothing about it was quite as good as Sunyshore's miner's lounge, but it was nice in its own way. Although, I was looking forward to showing Holyn the lounge and its serene atmosphere. I've only known him a few days, but he's cultured enough to appreciate it.

Unfortunately, Roland was determined to disturb my current serenity with valid and responsible questions. I didn't order cold hard facts for breakfast. The gall.

Roland closed his eyes and took a deep breath going back to his meditation. [We will be leaving Jubilife before the moon rises. Steel your nerves. Whatever may come, you shall overcome it as you always do.]

My skimming of the reports halted at his words. The last few days had been a welcome distraction and reprieve from… life, but going to Sandgem… encountering Rowan. I had mostly shunted my parents to the back of my mind, but lately they keep coming to the forefront. It was distracting and… nerve wracking. The more I learned, the more I wondered if ignorance truly was bliss.

When Cynthia told me they had no concrete evidence my mother was involved with Galactic I was both relieved and afraid. Just because they don't know, doesn't mean she wasn't affiliated. And if she was… what would that change? Knowing my mother is a terrorist? What about my father? Is he one too? Everyone says he couldn't be, but no one has seen him in over six years.

Speaking with Professor Rowan likely wasn't going to lead to enlightenment, but from what I knew he was a blunt, no nonsense man. Whatever he says will most likely be his truth.

[Could you settle down a tad, the gears in your head are exceptionally loud,] Rogelio voiced his complaint.

I switched over to telepathy to privately talk with him. [Were you reading my thoughts?]

[Heavens no, what rumbles through an adolescent boy's mind is none of my business or interest. I could still hear the white noise they produce. Regardless, do not let Roland upset you. He's actually trying to bond in his own particular way… hypothetically.]

[I'm used to his nagging, he's fine. Just thinking about my parents and Professor Rowan. The last time we met it was at a funeral… and I can barely remember it. Now I plan on popping on his doorstep asking him a bunch of questions. I was so hype a few days ago, but now the reality is settling in.]

Rogelio hummed. [Your anxiety is not unfounded and it's alright to be nervous, but I know with all my heart that in the end you'll be fine no matter what you hear. In the end, you are you and your parents are themselves. No matter what they've done, it should have no bearing on you. You've lived without them this long and have done quite well for yourself. But if that is not enough to convince you, remember I am quite literally always at your side, so if you need a retreat or aid I am here for you.]

[Rogelio… that was decently profound. You didn't even add a hypothetically at the end,] I joked.

[Only decently? Your standards are far too high for one so young,] He scoffed good naturedly.

[Haha… thanks. I needed that pick-me up. I think I'm ready to leave now.]

[Excellent, because I too have vested interest in speaking with Professor Rowan to learn more about my situation. I am actually quite eager to leave,] Rogelio answered giddily.

I chuckled aloud at that remark before I began rousing everyone to get up.

---

~x2x~

"The next train heading to Sandgem won't be here for an hour, so we'll have to be patient for a bit and just relax," I informed everyone as I finished purchasing my ticket online.

We had elected to move a bit closer to the train station so we were making our way over to a nearby coffee place to just wait.

[An hour? More than sufficient time for a few battles. Yesterday's were mostly lacking in power, but they proved to be fruitful in aiding my ability to adapt to new situations,] Lou spoke up as he crawled by my feet.

Lou was never a calm pokemon, but he had been quite gung-ho for the past few days. When even Donut and Holyn were tired from training he was still ready and willing to keep going, so I would indulge and use him for battles. Then when we all went to bed he'd be the last to sleep and the first to wake up. He was like an optimized battery with insane output… in fact I think that's exactly what he is at this point.

"Well I doubt any battle with you involved is gonna take long anyway, so we could prolly find someone to challenge before we catch the train," I pondered.

[Can I battle too? I've gotten really good! I can make lots of rocks now!] Holyn piped up by my flank, tongue lapping.

[Of course, we are comrades, fighting side by side is what we do! We can surmise how flexible you are when you are engaging multiple combatants as well!] Lou encouraged with a hearty buzz.

Donut scampered onto my shoulder and sighed. [You sure he's ready for all that chaos? Especially with you as a battle partner? I know I make it look easy, but you're a lot to work with.]

I stroked my chin. "Lou's a dependable teacher and worse comes to worst, we can be thankful for Holyn's hard head to protect him from any stray fire. In general though I think we could go for a battle that really pushes us. Ya know… Hey Roland-"

[If you want me to step onto the battlefield it will require more time and first aid than we have access to. All I've been doing has been teaching the last few days, so now I wouldn't mind venting a bit of power when we arrive in Sandgem. You all better be ready,] Roland answered from behind me.

Although he did sound ever so slightly pleased by the notion of a little intense training.

[I'm gonna need ample compensation to deal with- hm?] Donut's ears perked up. Lou's body shuddered with electricity and immediately each was on alert.

Donut seemed more surprised while Lou was incensed. Lou being mad at something didn't tell me much of anything new, so I focused on Donut trying to make out what he was feeling.

Roland's eyes began darting around looking for a threat as he stepped next to me. [Do you two sense someone familiar?]

Donut turned to him. [I think so, I just didn't expect her to be-]

"I spy with my little eye… Topaz!"

Several different emotions flooded my veins at the sound of a familiar, endlessly cheery voice piercing through all the noise of the city straight towards me. In the distance stood Jubilee by a crepe stand with several other girls around her age. She waved at me like we were old friends before she began saying goodbye to the girls and running over to me.

My first instinct was to run and save myself the trouble, but… I tend to run towards challenges so I figured that'd be a moot point since Jubilee is a challenge in and of herself. Fortunately, it seemed she didn't have any of her pokemon out so Lou didn't immediately assault her Mudbray, but you could never be too careful around her.

She skipped over to us playfully without a care in the world. I noted once again she drastically changed her appearance. This time she had dyed her hair multicolor and her afro was in braids. She wore an oversized space themed sweater doused in sparkles, black pants and light up Sketchers. As usual, a big smile was plastered on her face as she hopped right into my personal space.

"Hiya!" She grinned in my face as I took a step back.

"Jubilee… can't say I expected seeing you here, but it's hard to predict you coming from anywhere," I sighed.

"Well of course I'd be around here, I go to school in Jubilife City! Are you trying to invade my turf! Put up your dukes, it's time to throw down!" Jubilee got into a mock fighting stance. Lou was more than ready to oblige, but I held a hand out for him to stop.

"You invaded Sunyshore first, but…" I paused to look around the city and then back at Roland who was eyeing everything carefully. Jubilee didn't seem to pay him too much mind. From what I could tell. "Does this mean you live here?"

If she lived in Jubilife that meant Dispetto must be stationed here somewhere. Whether the local law enforcement knew was the bigger question.

She put a hand to her chin. "Hmmm I was born here. It's where I got my name! Jubilee N. Joylife of Jubilife City! But nope, I don't live here. My brother just wanted me to go to a normal school, make normal friends and do normal things. School is boring, but my friends are super cool. Do ya want me to introduce ya?"

"N-"

"Scratch that," She leaned in close to Holyn who sniffed her sparkles. "Hello hello, Jubilee N. Joylife of Jubilife City at your service! Now who are you?"

"This is Holyn, the newest member of the team. We met back in Oreburgh," I informed her with pride. Holyn preened at the memory.

"Ohhh it's super duper awesome to meet you Holyn! I like the cut of your jib!"

[Thank you! What is a jib and when did I cut mine?] Holyn asked with bright eyes enthusiastically.

"I'm not sure about either, honestly," I whispered to him.

"You say sumthin'?" Jubilee leaned in again as I shook my head. She pouted at my denial before she greeted Donut, Lou and then her eyes fell on Roland.

"The big bad sparky in the flesh! Carbon loves fighting you. You're even more serious in person! Come on, give us a smile!" She directed at Roland.

He didn't.

[Carbon?] Donut asked.

[That is Dispetto Boss Cole's Tyranitar, he goes by the name Carbon. Volkner, Froberge and Marsil first fought Cole and Carbon years ago when he was defending the thief Galena after she made off with valuable Silph Company equipment. Carbon managed to hold them both off before escaping, while Volkner fought Cole. We've crossed paths multiple times since,] Roland answered neutrally.

"Ya know, they say you're the strongest pokemon of all the gym leaders, but if you can't even defeat some lazy yakuza boss what does that say about the rest of the League's pokemon?" Jubilee stated nonchalantly after sizing Roland up. Her words struck a chord in me as for once I was on the same level of anger as Lou. Roland looked unperturbed.

"You don't get to speak to him like that. My uncle has told me about Cole and how he always picks fights and never finishes them. He's scared to fight Volkner! Meanwhile Roland could take out Carbon twice over, he just needs five minutes! No, 3 minutes!"

Jubilee blew a raspberry. "You've never even seen them fight, but it's kind of funny hearing you get all toasty, Topaz. You've got big 'My dad can beat up your dad' energy."

I pouted hard. "It's not like that, I'm just stating facts! Volkner and his team could beat Cole's any day of the week! And it's 'my uncle can kick your brother's ass' energy!"

"Oh is that so?" Said a new unfamiliar voice behind me. Jubilee looked past me and her eyes sparkled at the sight.

I turned to the voice in question to find a man, likely in his mid or upper twenties, with messy black hair underneath a beanie. He wore a long black winter cardigan over a brown sweater, dark wash jeans with several chains hanging off his waist and combat boots. What striked me as most odd was his exceedingly lackadaisical smile and the coal dust smeared across his face.

By his side stood a scowling Excadrill eyeing Roland down with a familiar menace. Roland took a more protective stance in front of me and my team as he stared them down.

"Who… wait…" I whispered. This man looked too familiar. Alarmingly familiar.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting. It's just that my ears are finely tuned to detect any shit talk uttered in the vicinity, and my nosey little self can't help but find out who said it," The man continued on, casually taking a step forward.

Roland sparked in denial. [Do not believe you're secure, yakuza scum.]

Excadrill stepped up with her claws glistening in the sunlight ready to attack, but the man held up his hands in surrender.

"So spicy, Electivire. I was just coming over to say hello to my little sis' new pal. You Leaguers love civility right? You wouldn't want to start a battle in the middle of the ci-."

Roland cracked his tails on the ground like a whip cutting the man off, sparks running the lengths of his tails before flying through the air. The familiar smell of ozone burned much more sharply now. Badass, but I was stuck on something else.

"Little sis?"

"Cole, I was looking for you!" Jubilee pranced over to us to jump hug Cole. He accepted the hug with happy and open arms as he spun Jubilee around. "Topaz was talking some big shit, so I was just trying to help him clean up. Doing my civil duty! Whatever that means."

"I'm proud of you, can't have little leaguers showing us no respect after all. Even if they are a gym leader's nephew."

Hearing that last bit of information from his mouth caused my blood to run cold. Donut and Lou were both on edge, but did not dare strike without Roland's permission. Even Holyn could sense the tension in the air, standing by with a dangerous look in his eyes.

[It seems we've come across a dangerous fellow,] Rogelio muttered solemnly.

I couldn't help but smirk at his statement. "And still find it fitting that you only have the guts to sneak up from behind, Dispetto Boss Cole Dust."

"Ohoho, the kid's got cajones," Cole chuckled rubbing his chin. Excadrill narrowed her eyes. "You always talk this big?"

"What? Does it bother you?"

"Not at all. I respect people with spine, but only until they get out of line-"

"Hehe, rhyming," Jubilee interrupted.

"Intentional rhyming. I've been practicing," Cole added on with more pride than needed.

I see the family resemblance now.

"I'm glad you know me, that saves introductions. Yah yah, I'm the big bad yakuza boss, but since you're tight with my sister you can call me Overlord Cole, supreme ruler of the Sinnoh Underground," He stated naturally.

"I'm not calling you that."

"And before you ask," He continued as though I hadn't said anything, "We don't look alike or why we have such a huge age gap it's because we're half siblings. Same Mama, different Papas. Capisce? Great! But since we're divulging family information... I know you, Sparky Jr., are Sparky's little sidekick, right? Do you get a mask and cape or is the League anti capes?"

I couldn't believe this. The supposedly most successful yakuza in the region. The man that has eluded the League for years. The man whose pokemon could hold their own against any gym leader.

Was a fucking clown.

I could feel a migraine coming on, and Rogelio had to reassure me it was from the sheer stupidity of the situation and not another aneurysm. I took a deep breath to calm myself down and analyze the situation. Honestly, I couldn't say I was totally surprised that Jubilee's older brother was the leader of Dispetto. She definitely couldn't be related to someone normal.

The best pokemon trainers tended to have their own array of eccentric traits. Naturally a leader with powerful pokemon would have them too. On the surface he appeared to be a dumbass and for all I knew he was a dumbass, but he's one that can get shit done. Which means no matter how he acted, I had to be on my game. Or at the very least prevent an all out brawl.

"So I've been stopped by the witch and boss of Dispetto on my way to the train station. Tell me, is today my lucky or unlucky day? Since if it's the latter we won't go down easy," I warned them.

Cole hummed in thought. "I mean… can't we have a neutral day?"

"Neutral is boring! Let's flip a coin and pick!" Jubilee cheered like the little harbinger of anarchy that she is.

[They are both entities of insanity. Let us skip the theatrics and try to gain some ground. Can you contact any League members?] Rogelio inquired.

[No, he'd notice if I'd reached for anything,] I thought back to him. Now that I had calmed down a bit, I figured I might as well gain something from all this. [But… we can use this time to gather information.]

[You have a plan? As you will then.]

While Jubilee and Cole were trying to decide which side of the coin was chaos, I spoke up in turn. "How about we skip all that and talk? I'll start, I'm on vacation. Seeing the sights of western Sinnoh for a change and Roland is accompanying me."

"I dunno Topaz, you're way too high strung to go on a vacation. And you're giving off way different energy than the last time we met up. I think there's more to it," Jubilee questioned.

I smiled calmly at her. "There's always a bit more to everyone, Jubilee. I've had a few revelations since we last spoke and have decided to broaden my horizons. You can understand, no?"

It took a second, but realization dawned on her as she got even more hype. "Oooooh, you figured something out! Was it something about the Tarot cards? Your strange inner power?"

"Huh, Jubilee mentioned something was off about you. What's this all about?" Cole questioned.

"This and that. Ya know. Things," I replied vaguely. "How about you? Why are you here, Cole?"

Cole patted Jubilee on the back lightly in consideration of her small frame. "Today is actually my day off from my own 'this and that', so Jubilee and I were going to go sing some karaoke. I just happened to run into you guys on the way over."

[I do not see any tells of deception, but he is a criminal. Every word he spouts must be taken with due caution,] Rogelio warned.

"...do you guys come here often?" I continued.

"Well. Jubilee goes to school here, so it's convenient, yeah," He answered slowly.

The gears in my head whirred. I couldn't imagine that a yakuza boss would send his sister too far out of his reach without a proper eye on her at all times. Dispetto's primary base of operations has eluded the League for years, but according to Volkner we can theorize it is close to the ocean and is likely not stationed directly within a city.

Close to the ocean makes sense because Dispetto runs a successful trafficking business that imports and exports goods all over the world, one of their primary sources of income and surprisingly difficult to nail down. And they likely aren't stationed in a city because most successful criminal bases tended to set aside their own large establishments away from civilization.

After Team Rocket's base was discovered underneath their casino, it seemed other evil teams learned a bit more tact. Even Galactic, who had large footholds in Veilstone and on Iron Island, still had places to slink off to unseen after Cynthia and everyone drove them out.

Jubilife is near the water and it's a large, thriving city. There could be lots of potential business here.

I had told Volkner and the others months ago about Jubilee, but I hadn't really asked them to look into her. But now that I knew their thought process better I'd imagine they already knew she attended school here and that her school information likely has a Jubilife address. Maybe Jubilee and Cole have a house here as a front?

What could I learn today that the League couldn't figure out after investigating?

"Hey now, don't overthink it. You can't catch me that easily, not without a price," Cole spoke up, interrupting my thoughts.

"A price?" I asked.

Jubilee chuckled. "We know what you're thinking about. You're trying to use this random meeting to learn something to use against us. Galena taught me how to tell when people are doing that. Way more fun than when she tried to help me with my algebra homework, bleh."

Roland flexed his fingers. He didn't like where this conversation was going.

I decided to come clean. "You expect me to not even try to glean anything of importance from the big boss of Dispetto himself? You underestimate me, Jubilee."

"You're right," Cole spoke up, drawing attention to him. "We've been bullshitting in the middle of the city for too long and if things don't start to heat up soon I'm gonna die of boredom and hypothermia."

None of the pokemon on my side liked the sound of that. Cole gave them a lazy, carefree smile.

"I've been sizing you and your team up for a bit and while I can't disprove if I'm better than good ole Sparky right now, I at least know what he can do. I ain't know shit about you though." Cole pointed at me. "You're a kid, but you've got guts. Or is it audacity? Or maybe you're just too damn curious for your own good. You definitely have a lip at least. Whatever you've got has earned my attention though. I wasn't plannin' on workin' today, but since I'm here… would you like to gamble?"

I kept a calm expression although my mind was already spewing out hundreds of possibilities. I was glad we were getting somewhere, but I was just hoping to take all the useful information I could and get the hell out. "What do you propose we bet?"

"A little bit of information is all. And from what I can tell, I think you're one of the few people who can actually provide it," Cole coyly stated. I didn't respond, so he continued.

"I sorta kinda maybe need the blueprints to the Sunyshore solar panels that your family specializes in making. Apparently just ripping them out and stealing them ain't so simple."

"I'm so sorry about that, how dare my family make stealing them difficult," I stated in my most deadpan voice.

"Right!? The absolute gall!" Jubilee agreed with me while Cole nodded in turn.

"Ya know Sparky Jr., I've got a lot of very smart people on my team and even they said without the blueprints they can't make heads or tails out of them. I don't really get it, but what I do know is that the Beacon family teaches their kids young all about the trade and that includes little ole you," Cole pointed straight at me.

I tried to suppress the cringe creeping onto my face.

Whatever he thinks would make me sell out my own family's secrets better be worth it.

"So even criminals have power problems. I'd figure you'd just steal electricity from civilians and call it resource allocation in exchange for protection." I squinted at him.

"Dispetto isn't like that! We help people free of charge all the time, especially people that don't have anywhere to go. It's just… power is expensive even with electric types and surprise surprise, we don't have unlimited funds. So we can't afford to buy a bunch legally, but if we had blueprints we could make some choice replicas!" Cole elaborated.

[This man is an inane fool. Remember we do not bargain with criminals, Topaz,] Roland warned me.

Excadrill flexed her claws in objection towards Roland, who simply scoffed.

[While this is a sizable ask, I cannot withhold my curiosity as to what he offers us in turn,] Rogelio spoke up. [I imagine a man at his station would know how to negotiate.]

I hummed in agreement. His demands were crazy, but I just had to know what he considered worth this.

"You mentioned this was a gamble, but you haven't mentioned what you were risking," I pointed out.

"We have the location of a Team Galactic base," Cole dropped with an unexpected intensity. His expression had gone from lackadaisical to focused seamlessly. "We're no spies, but the Underground travels deep. The intel we've gathered has led us to believe that Elite Grunt Eloise and Commander Mars might be stationed there doing who the hell knows. We actually confirmed a location today and I was gonna tell my good friend Eclipse to head on over and fuck'em up, but I'll be willing to wait if you work with me."

Jubilee's eyes flashed with concern for just a moment, betraying her ever present cheer. Noticeably at the mention of Eclipse.

The name Eloise I vaguely remember in reports. She was a scientist who was definitely evil, but nothing else too notable.

Mars I did know. Known for her red hot temper befitting her scarlet hair and a foul mannered Purugly. An adept scientist, coordinated leader and Cyrus' most loyal and one of his strongest subordinates. She was a big deal.

The other name though… "Eclipse… haven't we heard that name before?" I asked Lou.

"Eclipse was one of the survivors of Helheim and she is the one who goes after Galactic first," Jubilee pouted at Cole. "We shouldn't be pawning off her vendetta to other people."

"Sorry sis, we're not in the luxury of accommodating everyone, not even Eclipse and she gets that. Don't know if someone from high society living in Sunyshore knows, but Dispetto takes in a lot of lost folk. We take care of them whether it pays or not," He frowned before turning to me. "You've got three spry pokemon with you. Defeat Jubilee in a 3v3 and I'll give you the location. If she defeats you, you give us the blueprints."

"Okay… just because I'm from Sunyshore doesn't absolve me from suffering. Also, you're withholding a terrorist organization's location over solar panels?" I questioned.

"What can I say? Consistent central heating is a commodity my people would like to enjoy."

"This-" I gestured to his entire being. "-is ridiculous. First of all, you're insane. Second of all, this isn't my decision to make. Third of all, you must think I'm brain dead moronic if I just accept that you just so happen to have received new information about a Galactic base conveniently before you met me today."

Donut yawned. [Another outrageous conversation finished. Can we leave now?]

[Poor fop, underestimating your wit. Him challenging you in mental warfare was a mistake,] Lou boasted.

Cole snapped his fingers as he reached into his jacket pocket removing his phone. "I may be stupid, but I'm no fool. I've got your proof right here, and Electivire right here can verify it himself. We'll have to be quick though or Galactic will catch on."

We watched in curiosity as he tapped away at his phone before he held it out to Roland. The screen seemed to be giving off radio waves.

"Galactic bases use a very specific frequency, but my sources have specially trained their electric types to be able to find them. Now they use a different one all the time so it can be hard to pin down, but the most powerful electric type in the region should have no trouble at all? Right?" Cole boasted. "Use the signal from my phone to find the Galactic base's signal and you'll see it's very real and before you ask it's not cheap to replicate it, so it's not a fake. You'd be able to tell anyway."

Roland glared at the phone accusingly before stepping forward and tapping it with a single finger. His antennae lit up and his tails began searching before they began pointing northeast. The more he focused, the more his brow furrowed.

[It… can't be…] He whispered. [I know this signal well and it's not easy to track. He's telling the truth. He has information on Team Galactic.]

Cole pocketed his phone and grinned. "As you can see, I'm legit."

"And don't ask for anything more because we already let you know way too much!" Jubilee pouted.

[Sigh… I don't really wanna get involved with these guys, but now it feels like we really should,] Donut bemoaned.

[I have been eager to take down the witch and her steed ever since our first encounter. I have absolute faith in our victory, but I understand why you may want to tread with caution,] Lou informed me. [Nonetheless, if you decide to battle, know that I will defeat all of my opponents.]

[I still dunno what's going on, but I've been practicing, so I can fight now so I'll be okay!] Holyn chimed in.

Roland gazed at me, my team and then lingered on Lou a moment before nodding. [As your guardian, you are all my responsibility and I will keep you all safe with my life… but I understand that coddling you will hinder your growth more than help. I will sanction this fight only because I have faith in you all and because any information about Galactic is invaluable. Anything it takes to save lines.]

"It's decided then…" I nodded confidently. Truth be told, I had been hoping it would come to this. Jubilee and her team had disrespected me enough in October. I refuse to be one upped again. "We accept your challenge, Dispetto!"

---

~x3x~

Location: Construction Site

After accepting the challenge, Jubilee was eager to choose a battlefield for our bout. Considering who she is, I knew not to expect anything traditional or normal, so when she strolled into an empty construction site and told me it had 'fun vibes' I wasn't surprised in the least. Not to say I purposefully look to inflict property damage, but fighting in a construction site did sound like an adventure.

A slight fog had begun to roll in decreasing, visibility slightly. The construction site seemed to be for a new skyscraper as there were steel beams situated all over and various construction vehicles. My team and I surveyed the site carefully. I eyed the beams most intently.

Lou and I exchanged a brief knowing glance. Thanks to this steel jungle, Lou would have ample places to shoot string shot and acrobat all over the battlefield.

A traditional battlefield wouldn't allow him to bring out his full potential and Donut could absolutely make use of the fog and environment to avoid heavy hits.

I rubbed my chin in thought as to what Holyn would do in a situation like this. He had gotten better at fighting in snow, but that was the only environment he had some experience in. All I could hope was that the training we had achieved was enough for this type of battle.

Jubilee stood several yards from me levitating a pokeball with a mischievous grin. Cole and Excadrill stood on the sidelines watching intently, protecting the integrity of the match. Roland stood behind me watching them carefully. He won't allow them to cheat and even if they do, it won't be enough to win.

"Since I know all your pokemon, I'll send out my newest buddy," Jubilee started as she pulled a top hat out of nowhere and tossed the pokeball inside. "Here we go, Alibaba!"

The hat released the pokemon inside the hat, revealing a white bunny pokemon with orange tipped ears and feet, a yellow band over their nose and large feet. They tapped on the ground in excitement causing embers to burst from their feet. I eyed the vaguely familiar pokemon curiously before removing my pokedex.

Scorbunny the Rabbit Pokemon (#813)

Type: Fire

Gender: Male

The fire starter of the Galar region. This excitable bunny empowers themself by running and tapping their feet. Once their fire energy has begun coursing through their body, they begin fighting at full potential increasing all their combat abilities. They are known for their high attack, speedy jumps and fierce kicks.

"I knew he looked familiar…" I muttered pocketing my dex. I had skimmed the Galar dex after Julius updated it for me back in Oreburgh. "How did you obtain a starter pokemon from Galar?"

Jubilee snickered spitefully. "Every good magician needs a rabbit to pull out of a hat. Gotta fulfill the aesthetic."

[They may be a fire type, but they look green to me,] Lou grumbled. [Regardless of type advantage, Holyn would do better against him than the phantom or steed.]

[Awww, you think I can do it, Lou?] Holyn swooned under the observation, picking Lou up to nuzzle him.

[This is not the time for your unending affections! We are merely assessing the enemy and allocating resources appropriately!] Lou huffed as he squirmed out of Holyn's grip.

I patted Holyn on the head and nodded towards Lou. "I agree with Lou. This is a serious battle, Holyn. You ready to start us off?"

Holyn hummed eagerly fist bumping the air. I scratched his chin before turning to the battlefield and pointing. "Stand tall, Holyn!"

The little dino ran forward, stopping several feet before the Scorbunny known as Alilbaba, eyeing him fearlessly. Alibaba continued bouncing, unperturbed by the dangerous rock type in front of him.

That bravery will cost him once Holyn gets a hit in.

Cole cleared his throat and stepped forward. "I guess I'll be the referee. Three on three battle single battle, substitutions allowed. The battlefield is the construction site, so have at it before the cops come. You all know the stakes, but that doesn't mean we all can't have fun. A bit less chaos than usual, but I'm sure it's standard for the little Leaguer."

Holyn turned around. [I'm still not sure what the stakes are-]

"I'll tell ya after we win. For now, don't give them any openings. Jubilee is a tricky trainer," I warned Holyn.

[Okey dokey!] He nodded facing the battlefield before turning back to me again. [How can a human make a pokeball float around like that?]

"Let the battles begin!" Cole signaled and right off the bat Alibaba dashed forward while Holyn wasn't paying attention. He jumped into the air, his feet glowing orange ready to deliver Double Kick.

I pointed forward in panic. "Dome first!"

Holyn had just enough time to follow my instructions before he used his blue dome to take the brunt of each attack. He was pushed back slightly, but unharmed as Alibaba bounced back. He huffed slightly, seemingly offended as his opponent bounced around joyfully.

"Good, your head is in the game. I'll answer every question you have after this battle, alright? For now use Focus Energy!" I commanded. Holyn nodded before inhaling and exhaling deeply, releasing his tension.

Jubilee hummed happily. "How can you answer his questions if you can't understand him, huh?"

I placed my hands on my hips proudly. "I'm just that good a trainer. You wouldn't understand."

She eyed me with even more curiosity now. "Ya know, I was kinda unsure about doing this, but… you're way different from when I last saw you. So mysterious…"

"I'm such a fan of mysteries that I decided to become one," I smirked. "But I don't think I can compare to you quite yet. There's a long story to you, Jubilee N. Joylife. How about you tell me a little bit more about magic?"

She giggled in response. "I'm just a girl who got a little lucky and read the right tomes. Fortune favors the fun and I'm the most fun of all. Alibaba, show them how fun you are too!"

Alibaba kicked several pebbles into the air before igniting his foot and kicking them towards Holyn. Holyn stood strong and used his dome to block all the embers that would've caused damage, once again coming out unscathed.

"A great offense is a good defense. Use Headbutt!" I ordered and Holyn charged straight towards the scorbunny. He attempted dodging at the last second, but Donut and Holyn had trained for moments exactly like this. Using his head as a fulcrum and leaning along with using a hand on the ground to steady himself, Holyn pivoted to turn in the direction where Alibaba had dodged and continued his charge, slamming into him.

Alibaba's eyes bugged out as he was sent flying through the air, recovering just in time to land, but obviously pained. Jubilee was left pouting while Holyn huffed with pride.

"You wanna play that game? Fine! Alibaba, climb the beams and start kicking as many Electro Balls as you can!"

Gathering himself, Alibaba jumped onto Holyn's dome and used it as a boost to launch himself onto the steel beams high above us. He waved down at Holyn, who waved back, before stomping his feet this time producing blue sparks. Like an expert soccer player, Alibaba kicked down several small electric balls.

Holyn took a defensive stance to block the first volley, but Alibaba had already moved to a new angle to fire off more. There was only so much Holyn's impenetrable, but small dome could block before the blasts started hitting their mark, tingling his whole body.

[Come on, Holyn! That electricity isn't all that,] Donut shouted from the backlines.

As soon as he said that an electro ball impacted right next to Holyn blasting him right off his feet. He growled angrily and began charging cool energy into his mouth, but I held out my hand for him to cease.

"Not yet, I've got a plan! Dodge the electro balls while closing the distance!" I ordered. Holyn jumped to his feet and began strafing past Alibaba's attacks while I analyzed the situation.

Ice Beam will be a crucial surprise factor for her Mudbray, can't waste it on a fire type we might not hit. At the same time, how is Holyn supposed to hit him? His dome is sturdy, but it's not large enough to be an adequate defense against spread attacks. He also hasn't mastered ranged Stone Edge, but even that would have shaky accuracy in a place like this. Unless…

I eyed the Hard Stone around Holyn's neck. Until a few days ago he didn't know a single rock type move, but due to his youth and the hard stone augmenting his abilities he had begun to catch on to the basics of Stone Edge. Just enough for this plan.

There are two common variations of Stone Edge. The ranged version consisted of a bevy of small sharp rocks being launched at the opponent. Fast and minimizes energy cost for damage. The alternative cost more energy, but was much larger. Manifesting giant pillars of stone from the ground to uppercut the enemy from below. Or in this case…

"Use Stone Edge right before you jump to launch yourself onto the platforms!" I shouted, hoping Holyn would understand my intent.

Holyn kept charging towards wherever Alibaba jumped as he hopped all over the construction site, dodging his electro ball onslaught. I caught a quick glance from Holyn before brown energy began surrounding his feet as he took a heavystep, slamming all that energy into the ground.

As wished, a flat pillar of rock appeared right under his feet, shooting him high into the air and directly onto Alibaba's platform. Alibaba dispelled his last electro ball and jumped to a different beam, but Holyn followed right after him, using his powerful legs to match Alibaba's pace.

This is… going exceptionally well, wow.

[Or maybe you two are in deeper sync than you thought,] Rogelio hummed thoughtfully.

The way he said it made me feel like there was more to it, but I couldn't afford to pay attention elsewhere. I just needed Holyn to get in the right angle…

"You shouldn't have come up here! Alibaba Double Kick him off!"

"Match him with Headbutt!"

The two pokemon jumped towards each other at the same time, slamming into each other clumsily more than actually attacking. They were fortunate to fall onto a platform below them, but both pokemon looked relatively dazed and winded. Especially Alibaba.

"This is getting dicey," Jubilee cringed as she took out Alibaba's pokeball.

Our chance!

"Alibaba come ba-"

"Pursuit!" I shouted over her.

As the familiar red light enveloped the tired scorbunny, Holyn's eyes and dome flashed a dangerous black as he quickly righted himself and tackled Alibaba as he was being recalled while not interrupting it.

Jubilee stared in astonishment as Alibaba let out a loud pained squeak before returning to his ball. She looked at aghast before pointing at me accusingly. "You cheated! That's a cheater move! Meanies! Alibaba didn't deserve all that!"

I crossed my arms smugly. "As long as we have the smallest opening, Holyn and I will exploit it!"

[Y-yeah!] Holyn panted as he ran back to my side. [We can explode!]

"Exploit."

[That too!]

"Harumph. Well, you were pretty cool I guess. Never expected a cranidos to be so hard to shake, buuuut I've got someone even trickier for you! Hecate, razzle dazzle!" Jubilee cheered as she tossed another pokeball into the battlefield.

The fog swelled around the pokemon before they could be seen, turning into several different shapes before forming a giant toothy grin with a large tongue laughing at us. Holyn stepped back in fear, while I narrowed my eyes as the fog cleared, spotting a giggling Misdreavus.

Kneeling down, I smiled at Holyn reassuringly. "Holyn, you exceeded all my expectations, I'm so proud of you. We're gonna need you for later, so take a rest okay?"

Delighted by the praise, Holyn nuzzled me until I recalled him into his pokeball. I turned back to Donut, who had been eating cookies the entire fight. He looked genuinely confused as to why I was looking at him.

[Huh? Wait? It's my turn?] He questioned.

"You're the best chance we've got at keeping up with her, plus you handled her pretty well last time. Why not finish the job this time?"

Donut stared at Hecate who was making crude faces at us and gave a deep sigh. [I'm gonna need more sugar for this,] He muttered before finishing the rest of the cookies in one go. Electricity coursed through his body before he ran onto the battlefield, taking a combative stance.

I adjusted my gloves. "If this is the best you can do, I suggest your brother just send me the information now. 'Course, we'll still finish the fight. Maybe your team will learn something."

Jubilee accepted my taunts with a confident smile. "You talk so big, but your inexperience shows. It's okay though. I know you're The Fool."

I narrowed my eyes and she continued.

"Cole and I love irresponsible gambling, but this time I'm in serious mode, ya know? My tech friends said that better energy management or whatever would mean everyone at the Dispetto base would be a lot more comfortable during the cold months. I dunno if you've ever had to sleep in the freezing cold, but it's not as fun as the Snorunt make it look!"

"We all have our situations," I retorted.

"Is that really what a League member would say? We've got a lot of teens down on their luck in Dispetto? Are ya gonna ignore their situations too?" Jubilee questioned me. Annoyingly enough I couldn't sense any malice. Cole sat on the sidelines staring at me with his lax face.

[Do not allow them to hinder your resolve. You know the answer, so speak honestly,] Rogelio advised.

[Trust me, I know exactly what to say,] I responded.

I sighed deeply before collecting an answer. "That's not my intent, but honestly, I can't trust you. You or Dispetto. You tell me your people are suffering, but will you tell me where they are? Where is this secret Dispetto base where you keep all these unlucky individuals? Will you bring them to League mandated community centers so they can get the help they need? Can you even convince them to do that willingly?" I questioned.

Jubilee's silence was loud.

"Like I said, we all have our situations. I can't help everyone, no one can. But at the very least, in this moment, I want to help those I know would appreciate my aid. I want to help the League, Cynthia, Volkner and all of Sunyshore."

Donut's body surged with even more power, responding to my passion. Rogelio hummed fondly in my head.

"Now I love a philosophical debate, I truly do, but I need your information. If you want mine? Take it," I demanded. "You won't get my sympathy, by witholding terrorist intel over my head."

[Exemplary speech, General. We are of the same mind once again. Worry not, we will acquire that intelligence and be done with this lot soon enough,] Lou reminded me. I gave him a determined look before turning back to the battle.

"Ouch," Cole spoke up from the sidelines. "You inherited your uncle's sharp tongue. But you'll see Jubilee inherited my penchant for destruction. Care to show him?"

"You really have honed the Strength inside you, haven't you? It suits you, but since you're playing hard to get, Hecate will play harder. Hyper Voice!"

Hecate took a deep breath before unloading large shockwaves of sound onto the battlefield. I wasn't in the direct radius, but the impact alone was mentally bothersome enough. Fortunately, Donut, never a fan of loud sounds, rolled out of the way from the initial impact and fired a Thunder Wave lance crackling towards the banshee.

She twirled out of the way, giggling as she phased right through a girder before launching a bunch of oddly glowing orbs back at him. Donut rolled out of the way again and fired two more Thunder Waves in succession.

Smart. We had trouble last time with her mobility in a small enclosed space, but out in the open with all these obstacles, it'll be hard to catch her.

Hecate just spun between them both, winking at us before beams of light began spiraling out from her. Even though the actual beams didn't come close to Donut, the refracted light from all the fog made it almost impossible to see. And by the time it faded, she was gone.

[Well shit,] Donut muttered as he got on all fours and perked his ears up to find his opponent. I scanned the area as well, but I wasn't finding anything odd… until I looked at Donut closer.

Did his shadow always have eyes…? Wait.

"Insert Topaz attempting to warn Donut too late here," Jubilee mocked.

Red eyes and a small smile popped out of his shadow, an already formed Shadow Ball exploding right into the back of Donut's head as Hecate laughed, flying around gleefully.

Donut rolled through the dirt roughly before he managed to get on his feet, looking miffed and stunned.

"Donut, you alright?" I called.

[I hate this!] He called back. He was fine. Just wouldn't stay that way if he kept taking hits like that.

This fog isn't doing us favors and even at full attention she can sneak right next to him. We'll just have to make it dangerous for her to get too close.

"I see the cogs in your brain turning, but Hecate and I together are pure madness. Can you really anticipate our next move?" Jubilee chuckled as she snapped her fingers and several shadows began appearing within the now thickening fog.

I smirked in defiance. "Isn't this fortunate? You two actually know how to bring out the best of your abilities. Did you train for this or sorta stumble into it haphazardly like everything else?"

"Mmmm," Jubilee put a hand on her chin in thought. "A little bit of both. What can I say? It's more fun when you don't expect it."

The now many Hecates floating around all seemed to snicker to themselves, like they had a plan and weren't about to tell.

Nasty Plot? They're planning something, but I can't see where she is and the surround sound laughing isn't helping. We'll have to go with AoE tactics for now.

"Donut, AoE style! Catch her in your radius!" I ordered.

Donut nodded in turn and charged his body, simultaneously raising his special defense before he expanded it into a forcefield of electricity. It wouldn't protect him from anything substantial, but it'd raise his awareness and surely dispel any illusions caught in it.

Donut ran up the beams to reach the height of the illusions, lighting his way through the fog as he ran through the illusions in the attempt to find the real Hecate. When he did, he would know how to act.

All the Hecates flying around seemed to know that, as they all darted around at a safe distance. If Donut got too close to any one of them, they'd back off a bit more. There wasn't any preference, like them trying to make him feel swarmed if he went after one in particular.

Either they've used Double Team loads of times, or they've had good teachers.

They then started firing volleys of Shadow Balls in Donut's path, doing their best to keep him from running where he wanted. Too bad their best isn't good enough.

The Shadow Balls were noticeably smaller than the one beforehand and thus weaker, so each one that passed through his barrier diminished and slowed. Acknowledging that change he'd make the smallest movement to either dodge them or deflect them. His ears worked in overtime as he attempted to track his opponent, shining brighter forcing the shadows to back up.

A slightly larger Shadow Ball was fired behind him as he began running, perking his ears up. Before it even entered his barrier his tail flashed silver before he smacked it back to where it came from. There was a sheepish scream as Hecate fell into sight, legitimately shaken by the deflection.

Donut reacted before I could even open my mouth as he turned on a dime and closed the distance with Quick Attack, slamming her out of the beam tower and back into the ground with an aggressive Iron Tail.

"Yes!" I fist pumped.

Hecate shook herself off, glared at Donut annoyed and screamed at him again with Hyper Voice. Standing his ground he fired a Charged Thunderbolt right back at her causing the moves to cancel each other out and the shockwave to reverberate all over the site. Donut didn't stop moving though as he began jumping from place to place faster than I could react, firing even more Thunder Wave lances, using the fog for himself now.

[The sugar must be kicking in. His speed is increasing,] Lou noted. [The banshee will not outpace our fellow with her measly tricks.]

Hecate began taking shortcuts to put space between her and Donut, phasing through solid objects and leaving Shadow Balls or Confuse Ray orbs behind her to throw him off. Refusing to play on her terms, Donut began firing back Thunder Waves and Thunderbolts with equal vigor, taking close watch of each time she entered a beam. Once she began to enter one relatively close to him, Donut stamped his feet and sent a surge of electricity through the steel beams and directly towards Hecate, shocking her out of her intangible state.

That moment of vulnerability was enough for him to deliver a devastating Thunder. Hecate shrieked freakishly while in agony, likely to force Donut to cease, but electric types have adapted to loud noises. He would not be deterred.

When that became clear, Hecate gave a wicked grin. Her hair tendril things glowed light blue as she streaked towards Donut, then sucked all the light away from around them as they turned black to give him some Payback. Donut shirked back in surprise before Hecate headbutted him off the beam.

"A bit of vengeance for that Pursuit you pulled earlier! Fuck'em up, Hecate!" Jubilee cheered.

Donut noticeably reeled in pain from the increased output of Payback, as the damage was doubled due to Hecate receiving damage. He fell off several stories before he collected himself, curled into a ball and bounced off one of the beams to land stably. Only then did he allow the pain and exhaustion to hit.

[Freakin' jumpscares,] Donut coughed, rubbing his head. [She's thicker skinned than I thought.]

At the very least, Hecate's hail mary came at a price as her body surged with the sting of paralysis. Either it was thanks to Thunder or Static, but either way she was slowed down and hurt. This moment was critical.

"She's paralyzed! Just a bit more and she goes down! You're almost there, Donut!" I hyped Donut up as he got to his feet groggily, nodding at me as he Charged himself back up and began his ascent towards Hecate.

She glared back down at him, not trying to dodge anymore and instead sending a hailstorm of Shadow Balls right down at him. Mid jump he managed to avoid them, but due to his injuries the shadow balls were beginning to hit closer to mark and beginning to graze him.

He fired out Thunderbolts when he had the chance which Hecate guarded against using a larger Shadow Ball to absorb most of the damage before continuing her volley.

Eventually, Donut finally reached her level. Battered, tired and pissed, he was ready to end it. Hecate made an unnatural facial expression mockingly which gave Donut pause as he got on his hindlegs and stretched his face out with his arms to return the gesture. Hecate laughed in amusement before firing Shadow Balls shrieking madly.

Donut jumped, deflected and ran through them until he finally managed to close the distance and sliced her with Iron Tail slamming her into the nearby steel beam. Hecate grimaced, then smirked with one eye shut as a faintly glowing red thread between the two shimmered into existence, then snapped in the middle and disintegrated.

[Huh?] Was all Donut managed to let out before his tail returned to normal and the light vanished from his eyes. [T-topaz…]

He stumped slightly before he stumbled off the edge and plummeted to the ground along with Hecate.

"D-donut! Wake up!" I shouted as I ran into the battlefield gripping his pokeball. "Return!" I yelled desperately as the red beam of light took Donut in, saving him. I took a deep breath of relief. "Sorry you had to go through all that, but you were spectacular."

I noticed Jubilee had done something similar although she looked unreasonably more passive.

"Never a dull moment with you, huh Hecate… that's why I love ya!" Jubilee squealed, cuddling Hecate's pokeball. I stared at her in awe before she stuck her tongue out.

"Hecate believes that if she loses, then everyone else should too. Destiny Bond is one of her favorites. It's just something about the hope of victory vanishing from her opponent's eyes as they experience what pain they inflicted onto her oh so…" Jubilee's eyes gleaned ominously. "Infatuating. Or something like that. She's quirky."

I gripped Donut's pokeball securely before returning it to my belt before I turned my back to her. "Did you confuse quirky for spiteful cuz she certainly is."

When I returned to my side Lou nodded affirmingly. [We should've expected this from such a spiteful creature. Donut completed his mission, it is up to us to ensure his sacrifice will retain value."

"He certainly won't wake up feeling happy about this, but at least he'll wake up to good news," I affirmed Lou. "Just one more… one more opponent."

Whatever anxiety Jubilee was feeling she didn't show it, as she stood with the same confidence and cheer she exhibited at the start. "So it's your two against my one, huh? Well, one of them won't be any trouble to Merlin, but he can give it his best shot. It's fun when the newbies tryhard, right?"

Jubilee levitated her final pokeball in her hand. "Your team definitely live up to expectations, Topaz. Alibaba is new so I can get that, but making Hecate give it her all? She likes to play games, but we've been training with the best Dispetto has got and we still had to use Destiny Bond."

She squealed in excitement while spinning in joy. "Ooooh! This is so. Much. Fun! But now it's time for my underdog abilities to activate, here we go, Merlin!"

She tossed out her final pokemon, revealing the familiar Mudbray that caused Lou so much trouble months ago. He was even bigger than he was in December and his muscles rippled firmly. This was one steed that wouldn't topple easily.

I removed Holyn's pokeball from my belt. "Donut falling off a building aside, this was just the thrill I needed on this trip. Let's keep the momentum going until the end! Holyn, stand tall!"

Holyn appeared onto the battlefield with a lot less energy than usual. He turned to me and smiled at least before facing Merlin again, but it looked like the previous battle had worn him out a bit. Merlin kicked at the ground impatiently whilst Holyn got into a fighting stance.

Lou frowned. [This fight will be a trial for Holyn. He has shown promise, but I only hope this battle does not make him succumb to the pressures we will face in our future.]

"I hope so too…" I muttered.

Mudbray tend to be straightforward fighters, being able to tank blow after blow. They only get tougher as the battle goes on due to Stamina increasing their physical defense each hit, so I'll have to pay attention to that. Considering Lou and Donut struggled against him together, I don't see how Holyn would fare any better, but I didn't send him out here to lose either. Gotta have faith.

"You done with your internal monologue?" Jubilee called me out.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about what sort of face you'll make when you finally see that I'm the better trainer, but we're about to see it anyway," I shot back.

"Hehe, I love this energy we've got going on. The rival banter is top notch," Jubilee nodded in approval. I'll admit it was rather fun. "Now that we've got the go ahead, Merlin set up Stealth Rock!"

Merlin stamped the ground causing several rock floating rock spires to emerge from the ground and hover around the battlefield. Holyn looked around curiously as I frowned.

"Holyn, do not touch those. They explode on impact," I warned him. I eyed the construction beams. Holyn didn't do so badly getting up to them beforehand, but the stealth rocks were a new obstacle to be aware of. It makes sense why they'd know such a move, Mudbray are terrible at long range, so they want to keep the enemy on their terms.

"Focus Energy and Leer," I ordered. Holyn nodded as he began loosening up.

"Oh I see, you're tryna break through our defense the easy way. How about we just take you out before you even get the chance? Rock Slide!" Jubilee taunted.

Merlin formed several boulders in front of himself before he turned around and began kicking them toward Holyn one by one. Holyn barely finished Focus Energy before he had to dodge the first rock tumbling at him, deflect the second and tank the third with his head.

He started dashing towards Merlin, bobbing and weaving as best he could rather than taking every hit head on (something we had to train out of him).

Once he was uncomfortably close, Merlin ceased Rock Slide as light brown energy surrounded his hooves. Right before Holyn made contact, he splashed mud in Holyn's face and dodged just enough to avoid the brunt of his attack, but still ended up being grazed by Holyn's head spikes on his leg.

Holyn, losing focus, tumbled into the ground awkwardly as he tried to get the mud out of his eyes. Meanwhile, Merlin was all too ready to begin stepping on him.

"He's coming from behind! Create distance and use Headbutt!" I directed.

Heeding my warning, Holyn rolled out of the way, scampering onto his feet right as Merlin slammed into the ground before he launched himself directly into his chest.

Merlin neighed in pain and even Jubilee seemed shocked by the fact he'd actually be hurt, but he rebounded quickly, turned fast and kicked Holyn away from him. I noted his muscles ripple and tighten as his signature ability, Stamina, raised his defense.

It wasn't the best hit, but good to know it hurt.

Holyn groggily got up from being launched, but otherwise he wasn't too bad off. "Good hit, Holyn! Try lowering his defense with Leer!"

Holyn's eyes gleamed red as he made eye contact with Merlin, lowering his defense.

"High Horsepower!"

"Dodge, then Headbutt his legs!"

Merlin charged forward, faster than I had anticipated. Holyn managed to dodge his first strike, but before he could launch Merlin was already circling back to attack again. With no time to spare, Holyn tanked the next blow with his head, likely hoping to push back and slam him with one of his spikes.

Now Holyn was strong, incredibly strong despite his minimal training, but Merlin proved to be stronger as he managed to gain better leverage and stampede through Holyn. But I did notice he managed to slice one of Merlin's legs with his spikes, earning us a pained neigh.

Unfortunately, before Holyn could regain his footing, Merlin kicked his jaw straight into one of the Stealth Rock mines triggering an intense explosion. Lou had to shock one of the rock shards that came flying my way.

"Holyn!" I shouted in dismay as his yelps of pain were drowned out. When the smoke cleared he was lying in the ground with rock shards embedded in his skin. He whimpered in pain, turning to me for guidance. He couldn't take much more of this. I couldn't stand seeing this. I had to think faster and better.

[It hurts to see our young Holyn in such a condition. It would be best to recall him,] Rogelio chided.

[Holyn is merely bruised, not beaten. I did not drill him to yield when it starts getting too hard. He just requires motivation,] Lou responded.

This is getting to be a bit much, but… if Holyn won't give in, then I won't give up on him either. We still have a chance to win this.

"I've got an idea, Holyn. Please hold out a little longer. You're doing so well!," I comforted him gently. "Trust me."

[O-okay…] Holyn grunted as he tried getting up to his feet, working through the pain. [I'll try my best.]

"I hate to kick a Cranidos while he's down… so instead we'll throw rocks!" Jubilee cheered as Merlin launched another wave of Rock Slide.

"Use Stone Edge on yourself and dive bomb Pursuit into him!" I shouted.

Holyn's Hard Stone glowed intensely before the energy gathered in his feet until a rock platform shot him several yards into the air, avoiding the rock avalanche below. Merlin attempted sending rocks into the air, but they fell far too short to hit Holyn.

As he flew through the air, the pain seemed to vanish from his eyes and instead wonderment and joy flashed across his face. He was having the time of his life. Thankfully, he can have fun and fight, as he maneuvered himself onto a steel beam and pushed himself off with all his might straight towards Merlin head first. The mud steed attempted to move out of the way, but the injury Holyn had inflicted earlier caused him to buckle.

Jubilee gasped in genuine shock. "Are you kidding me!? Block with Rock Slide and Iron Head!"

Merlin fortified his position with a layer of boulders and by protecting his cranium with a metal surface, but none of that would be enough to stomp the destruction Holyn incurred upon impact. He easily smashed through every single boulder in his way and hit Merlin dead on.

The impact reverberated throughout the entire construction site. Both Jubilee, Cole and myself had to hide our faces as rock, dirt and mud flew everywhere. Roland created a barrier to safeguard us from the cataclysm. The steel beams shook in its wake, car alarms in the distance went off and even the nearby wrecking ball moved a bit too much for comfort.

When I looked upon the carnage I found myself face to face with a large crater with both Merlin and Holyn lying at the bottom. Holyn's breathing was labored as he laid there half conscious.

The usually neutral Merlin was wide-eyed in both pain and surprise by the severity of his situation, as he dispelled the steel from his head that likely saved him from acquiring brain damage. He managed to get back onto his feet awkwardly as his body pulsed even more, Stamina activating again.

Lou huffed pridefully. [As I thought, Holyn is not one to yield to pain. He will find joy in life at the most opportune times and then come right back to reality to fight even harder. Our young dinosaur is still but a child, but he has the heart of a warrior. But we are not finished here yet.]

"Okay wow, did not see that one coming," Jubilee gazed in awe of the crater. I noted she had shielded herself with a forcefield and simply waved off the shards. Cole, who had hidden behind Excadrill, whistled in astonishment.

"You know, if that hit anyone else, I'd be worried," Jubilee pouted before she watched Merlin drag himself up. "Okay, I was a bit worried, but Merlin likes to fight head on (even if it is super plain), so he's got a lot more where that came from. Just had to shake off the rust is all! Prove how good to go you are, Merlin!"

Shit.

Merlin had absolutely taken some major damage, but it seemed like we had yet to reach his limit. He slowly made his way to Holyn ready to stomp him into the ground.

Time for the trump card. "Ice Beam!" I shouted. As soon as the words left my mouth, a second wind breathed into Holyn as he sprayed Merlin's underside with wicked cold ice.

Stamina did nothing to protect him from the cold as he tried pushing through it with all his might. Sadly, he was nowhere close to being knocked out so he was able to pour all his weight into one last strike, burying Holyn deep into the ground.

"Shit, Holyn!" I yelled as I ran straight towards the crater, ignoring the floating rock land mines. I could hear Cole order Excadrill to hold them back, but I didn't pay them any mind. Roland would've covered me anyway.

I pulled Holyn out of the hole to find he was completely knocked out, his mouth only releasing a cool breeze of air. Nothing appeared broken, but he was definitely bruised everywhere. I recalled him immediately for his safety.

"You went above and beyond. Thank you for believing in me," I assured him before pocketing his pokeball.

He deserves all the treats after this.

"And now we're each down to our last. Quite the show ain't it? If only someone was recording it," Jubilee sang. "But we are now approaching the climax."

"Lou, you're the closing act. Think you can outperform?" I asked.

[Enough with the showtime vernacular, Jade isn't here,] Lou groaned.

I chuckled. "Fine, fine, can you complete the mission then?"

[Better. I will fulfill my duty using every resource at my disposal. It is against my nature to not match the vigor of my comrades in battle. They fought with all their might and I shall respect that by giving it my everything to succeed. That is the way of any good soldier of Sunyshore.]

"Understood, then carry on, Major Lou. Let's put an end to these Dispetto games. We stand united!"

Lou crawled into the battlefield with absolute confidence, but this time no one was gonna stop the Stealth Rocks from coming straight towards him. He tensed up and shocked the ones he could, but some managed to get through and hit him.

When the explosions stopped happening he seemed more annoyed than damaged, but fortunately most of the rock mines had been destroyed in that little event.

Lou crawled over to Merlin who had pulled himself out of the crater, but he still didn't look in the best shape. His body was still noticeably shivering and the ice had yet to actually thaw out. In fact, it seemed to be spreading.

Is he about to…

"Alright, Merlin let's start with a-" Jubilee's words died in her throat as Merlin was quickly encased in ice. "Okay… taking a break. That's cool too, I guess."

"Holyn's Ice Beam managed to freeze him! The weak point is the crack on the right flank! Give them your best Acrobatics!"

[I typically do not attack the defenseless, but my compatriot gave it his everything to put you in this state, so I shall take every advantage of it!]

At this declaration, Lou shot a bit of string into the air, maneuvering seamlessly as his pincers glowed with harsh light, that light extending much further than his actual pincers, and he came down to slash straight through Merlin. A critical hit.

The ice shattered first as a giant gash appeared on Merlin's skin. Merlin nearly buckled from the surprise pain, but he steeled himself and began charging towards Lou.

Lou swung out of the way with a String Shot, but this time Merlin wasn't content letting us get out of reach. He kicked a Stealth Rock over to Lou's string, triggering an explosion and knocking him out of the air. Lou fired a Mud Shot to deter him, but he seemed to more appreciate the mud than bothered by it before ramming Lou with a heavy High Horsepower.

Lou slammed into a steel beam so hard it dented and just barely dodged a second Iron Head. He blocked another strike with X-scissor until they began duking it out in close quarters. Lou was being pushed back, but only because his body wasn't made for consecutive attacks, it was better suited for single strikes.

At some point, he seemed tired of it as well as he steeled his own body with Iron Defense, tanking an Iron Head and spraying Merlin in the eyes with String Shot. As Merlin struggled to recover his eyesight, Lou Screeched right in his face, lowering his defense after all the times they had increased it. Merlin stumbled, disoriented, before stomping everywhere enraged.

Lou was knocked back by the shockwave and rolled through the ground, but he seemed alright.

"Ummm, try using a rock to cut the string off?" Jubilee ordered hesitantly. Merlin attempted rubbing his face against one of the boulders he had made to rid himself of string shot, but Lou's string wasn't so easy to cut.

Spying opportunity, Lou swung back into the air preparing to strike Merlin's back with X-scissor.

"He's aiming for your back! Rock Slide everywhere! Just throw them everywhere, keep'em guessing!" Jubilee yelled.

Merlin took her words to heart as he began stomping all over the ground, summoning rocks all around him. Lou wasn't phased until he began summoning them over his own head. Weighing the risks, Lou continued with his attack slashing the back of Merlin's back, releasing an angry whinny before he slammed his head into Lou, sending him hurtling into a pile of boulders.

The boulders he summoned above his own head fell upon him as well, but they only increased his defense even further to the point where it seemed like it was barely hurting him.

"Now we're in our stride! You can't use electric attacks, Merlin's defenses are too high for your physical attacks to hurt him and Mud Shot is just a nice bath for him. We're gonna win!" Jubilee pranced happily.

I stifled a laugh. She stared at me conspicuously. "Hmmmmmm?"

"Oh, I was just thinking it's funny how you think that's gonna stop us."

"And why wouldn't it?"

I shook my head in absolute confidence in Lou. A deeper power welled within my chest. "Worse hasn't stopped us before. Use String Shot to ricochet the Stealth Rocks into Merlin!"

Lightning exploded from the pile of boulders Lou had crashed into as he hooked a Stealth Rock mine with String Shot and ricocheted it into Merlin. The explosion did proper damage, unlike every other attack. And that was when we both knew how to win this.

Merlin kept chasing after Lou with rocks and while some did manage to hit their mark, they never seemed to slow Lou down. He was actually unstoppable as he continued ricocheting Merlin's own mines into him.

Not too long after, Merlin finally fell to his knees in exhaustion and pain. Lou was splintered with countless rocks, but whatever pain or exhaustion he felt he did not exhibit for the world to see.

"M-merlin? You okay, pal?" Jubilee asked her friend. He whinnied a pained response as he tried to get back up. My eyes immediately darted to where Holyn's head spike had grazed him before. It was still vulnerable.

"Left hind thigh, dig in deep," I ordered. Lou grunted before swinging into action. Merlin tried to defend himself with Rock Slide, but Lou sliced through the air better than any flying type I had seen via Acrobatics.

Once he had locked on target in midair, I wasn't even fast enough to process when he had come down. He had simply moved from the air and to the ground. It was though the wind itself had sliced exactly where I ordered, the left hind thigh. Another critical hit.

Lou retracted his pincers and began crawling back to me. Merlin was frozen in shock from the pain, standing unconscious. Cole got up from his seat in actual marvel as Jubilee ran over to her pokemon, waving her hands in his face.

"Merlin?" She asked. After getting no response she sighed and recalled him, thanking him for everything.

Lou crawled over to me with a proud frown. [Mission accomplished, General Topaz.]

I saluted him before bending down to pat him on the head. "A job well done, Major Lou."

[Not a flawless performance, but we got what we needed. I'll critique it later, but it was an electric performance,] Roland praised. Lou buzzed affirmingly, ever eager to improve.

[I always feel a bit of anxiety watching you all fight while I remain on the sidelines, but every time you prove my worries unwarranted. The bonds you have forged amongst each other are a sight to see,] Rogelio complimented.

As I began scraping the rocks out of his skin I noticed that despite being smashed into a lot today, that nothing had actually managed to penetrate his carapace despite his weakness to rock attacks. All in all, he actually looked really good despite such an intense fight.

When we first fought them, he was nearly crushed by Merlin's rocks, but now he just rubs them off. All that training really did pay off!

"Congratulations, Sparky Jr. Or maybe after an epic showing like that, I should call you Topaz."

Cole, Jubilee and Excadrill made their way over to Roland, Lou and myself. Cole didn't look displeased by Jubilee's loss although she actually did look a fair bit disappointed.

"Defeating Alibaba, sure I'll give you that one. Managing to catch Hecate? I was pretty surprised by that one. Managing to overpower Merlin? Now you got me there. Excadrill helps train him all the time, so she's a bit stung watching her pupil get taken out," Cole shrugged.

Excadrill scoffed whilst Roland chuckled. Roland regularly helped train Lou himself, so this was definitely relishing his student's victory.

"Okay now I won't say I underestimated you because I really did wanna win in front of my big brother, but dammit Topaz! Why'd you and your team have to hit so hard?" Jubilee pouted, folding her arms. "And why are you so good at fighting ground types!? It's a weakness for a reason!"

"Did you really think a Sunyshore trainer doesn't know how to handle a bit of mud? Get outta here with that," I laughed. Seriously though, electrics have one major type weakness. Any good electric specialist has learned how to work around it. Volkner is almost bored by how easily he works around it thanks to all the drills he asked Elite Bertha to put him under.

"But in all fairness, your team was really impressive, Jubilee. If we hadn't formulated certain strategies to deal with your tricky style, the battle wouldn't have gone as smoothly," I complimented her. I didn't necessarily think she'd win since Lou was a one bug army, but it would've been harder. "Alibaba, Hecate and Merlin are definitely not to be underestimated."

Jubilee flung some sparkles on me. "Awww, humility! It looks sort of weird on you, but I'll take it! Thanks! Your team was super annoying, but in a good way!"

"Your Pikachu and Cranidos have got a lot of destructive power on their hands. I've also gotta say your Charjabug is leagues above what I'd expect from a kid. Evolution would do him well, a proper body to utilize that power," Cole suggested.

Lou and I exchanged looks. At this point, it was starting to make sense, but we'd have to discuss it later.

"I see… but now you've got something of mine and I'd like it now," I demanded.

Cole raised his hands up in surrender. "Yes yes, so impatient. I can't praise you on a job well done? Fine, lemme upload the data to your phone. Don't worry there's no virus on it, I'm not gonna jip a kid on a bet I wagered and lost. I'd lose way too much street cred over something that petty."

Jubilee pouted at the mention of her loss as Cole sent the data to my phone. Roland eyed the whole exchange carefully, but my security protocols didn't alert me of anything uncouth.

"And now we may bid you adieu." Cole gave a lackadaisical bow before straightening up. "I should thank you, Topaz. This was an enlightening and fun exchange; I'll be sure to compliment your uncle the next time I'm antagonizing him on the job. Piece of advice, you should let your League buddies know about that information as soon as possible. Just because you know about it now doesn't mean we're not gonna use it."

Does this mean he's still gonna tell this Eclipse person to go there?

I nodded. For all I knew this could've been a ploy all along to take advantage of a little kid, but even though he seemed reliable, I didn't get the sense he would lie about this. Either way, I had every intention of following that advice.

"As for you, Jubilee." Cole turned to his younger sister. "One of Dispetto's finest upcoming trainers losing to a Leaguer pup is not how we roll. We're gonna have to work on your team's training regiment a bit more and hone your magic a bit less."

"Stop sounding like a dad, it's weird! But sure, I guess that could've gone better, but Topaz is like really smart and stuff! And his pokemon move too fast!" Jubilee complained as she turned to me. "Losing today actually kind of sucks because I still don't know how you can talk to your pokemon and I kept sensing another presence while we were battling. It was really distracting, ugh! Plus now Eclipse won't be happy… with either of us, Cole."

Jubilee groaned and ruefully cursed the sky which was admittedly pretty funny.

"One day I might let you know what's up. If you can ever defeat me that is," I joked.

"I shall know your secrets, Topaz! One day! But until that day… I need to heal my pokemon. Come on, Cole!" Jubilee announced pulling on his arm trying to get him to leave. "Today was kind of serious, but next time we meet up we can hang out! We can do karaoke!"

The old me would've refused outright, but for some reason… I actually liked the prospect. "As long as we do a Mariah Carrey song, I'm down."

"You read my mind!" Jubilee chuckled as she pulled Cole into the fog. He gave me a two finger salute before he disappeared into it along with his sister. Excadrill and Roland exchanged one final glance, as though silently stating they'll see each other on the battlefield next, before she followed after them.

[Send Cynthia the details. We've no time to waste on anyone else,] Roland commanded.

Although surprised he'd go over even Volkner for this, I didn't hesitate to pull out my phone to message the coordinates to Cynthia before I started calling her to give her context. Judging by Cole's words, I was on a timer and even if this was a trap, Cynthia's team could deal with it. It took a few seconds, but she answered.

"Topaz?" She answered, questioning. "I take it these are coordinates? Where'd you get them, what're they to, what's going on?"

I took a deep breath. "Those coordinates are to a possible Galactic outpost close to Jubilife City where Elite Grunt Eloise and Commander Mars might be stationed. Roland also confirmed the authenticity of a suspicious signal. I'm not sure if this is a trap or not, but Cole Dust warned me time is of the essence, so I suspect they may be abandoning it soon," I explained without missing a beat before I decided to add one last bit. "A woman named Eclipse might be heading there soon."

There was a brief pause before she responded. "How do you keep getting into stuff like this- Okay, Roland? I know you're there, keep an eye out for Lucian and Siegfried. They'll be coming in a couple minutes. I'll go handle this. We'll talk later Topaz, alright?" I could hear her shuffling in the background and what sounded like running from both her and Reginleif.

After she hung up, Roland addressed me again. [Good. We should head to the pokemon center to treat your friends…] Roland looked around at the slightly devastated construction site. [-and so we don't have to explain this. I've messed up my fair share of battlefields and the lectures-]

"Agreed," I interrupted him as I picked up Lou, looked up the nearest center and jogged out of there. I'm sure the construction workers won't notice the slight edits in the foundation.

[I am assuming we will be missing the next train then?] Rogelio sighed.

~Chapter 30 Fin~

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Question: Did you enjoy Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl for what they are? Are you satisfied with them?

Author's Note

Topaz and friends are BACK! Apologies for such a long wait. It's been months and I hadn't intended to be this way. I've been working on this chapter all this time, but it's been slow-going. Now you're prolly thinking there was some profound, drastic reason why I couldn't work on it… well there isn't. I was just lazy. Oops, haha…

But it's 2022 now, a new year, and I got tired of thinking about this point in the story when there's SO much I wanna write about. So now that this is finally out of the way, we can all move on mentally.

Since last chapter we had way less info on the games, but now BDSP is out (got it for my birthday) and Legends Arceus comes out at the end of the month (by the time I'm posting this). Judging by pre-release information, Volkner's ancestor was a guild merchant, meanwhile Cynthia's was a traveling merchant in the same guild!? I have so many questions and honestly wondering how Legends is gonna affect this story's canon, but I am legitimately excited to play it and figure out how to adapt it!

The next chapter should come out sooner. I have a better idea of how it goes and there's no battles. Battles are long and painful, even when fun. Battles held up this chapter for months. Gonna take a break from long battles for a while. Any who, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year and whatever else I missed since the last update.

-This one's from me, co-author here! Lux used a placeholder line I put in in the actual chapter, and I'm both miffed and impressed at him making it work. He's too good at this. At any rate, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and to a less shitty year than the ones prior!

Trainer: Topaz Heart

Age: 12

Class: Junior Gym Trainer

Deck: Fool, Devil, Strength, Hermit, Fortune.

Team: Donut (Pikachu), Lou (Charjabug), Holyn (Cranidos).

Allies: Rogelio (?).

x

Donut (Pikachu/M)

Equip: Eviolite.

Moves: Thunderbolt,Thunder,Iron Tail, Brick Break, Quick Attack, Rollout, Tickle, Charge, Thunder Wave.

Ability: Static Chance to paralyze opponent upon physical contact.

Likes: Pastries, sweets, naps, relaxing, quiet, Topaz's bag.

Dislikes: Bitter food, stress, stupid decisions, feeling alone.

x

Lou (Charjabug/M)

Moves: X-scissor, Wild Charge, Acrobatics, Mud Shot, Iron Defense, Screech, Dig, String Shot, Thunderbolt.

Ability: Battery Boosts allies' special attack.

Likes: Bugs, war, General Topaz, usurping oppressors.

Dislikes: Birds, criminals, condescension, threats to allies.

x

Holyn (Cranidos/M)

Equip: Hard Stone.

Moves: Headbutt, Leer, Focus Energy, Pursuit, Ice Beam, Stone Edge.

Ability: Mold Breaker Bypass enemy ability.

Likes: Friends, playing, TV dramas.

Dislikes: Friends arguing, sad endings.