Pokemon: The Redwood Saga Chapter 56: Odyssey of Ascendance Part 5, a pokémon fanfic

Chapter 56: Odyssey of Ascendance, Part 5

Pino Pokémon Lab, Florencia City - Italia Region

Cassius Proditor had once more disguised himself as a child after finally reaching Italia, mostly because of a rumor he'd heard about one of the starters Professor Pino gave out. Unlike other regions, there were multiple of each type, and each could easily be found in the wild at some point in a Trainer's journey, if they looked hard enough. Clauncher and Squirtle and sometimes Feebas were one such selection, Numel, Magby, and a fire typed regional variant of Rockruff were another, and the grass options were Smoliv, Budew, and sometimes Snowver. Proditor only had one goal here: find out where the Snowver were raised, as with his Future Sight, he had seen himself somehow reuniting with Optimus, and doing so required him to come here. Getting their location would be as simple as prying open the old Italia Professor's mind; the only problem was the child in front of him, and his inability to choose a starter. He knew it was a momentous occasion, but it had been ten minutes by this point, and he'd looked through his options three times.

More than that, there was something…off, about this child in particular. He had dark hair that had way too much gel in it, and his face looked stuck in a downcast expression. Adding to his weird vibe were the four very muscular men, each in black suits and wearing sunglasses despite being inside, who flanked the kid at all times. From their thoughts, they were just as irritated with the 'young master' and his inability to choose. Professor Pino looked like he wanted to help, but he was clearly afraid of the men in black, and it all clicked together, as Proditor heard the word the aged Professor called them inside his aging brain: Mafioso. The child belonged to one of the ruling classes in Italia, and while Proditor sensed psychic potential, he also wished he'd make up his Mukking mind already.

Seeing his chance to get acquainted with the powers that be, Proditor finally decided to stroll up to the kid. The guards shifted, but then, to all appearances he was just another brat waiting for a Pokémon, and apparently the 'young master' didn't have many friends. Proditor suspected most families in Italia kept their little ones from associating with the spawn of a mob boss. For good reason. Friends of heirs to the family very often ended up getting drawn into the 'family business' when they got older.

"Sup, fam." Proditor said, trying to emulate the patterns of speech he'd heard in his time at Naranuva Academy. "Having some trouble?"

The boy had dark hair, somewhere between brown and black, that curled over his narrow brown eyes and shined with the slick gel product that someone had put on his head. He was dressed like a typical rich kid, but had no hat, which was odd for a beginning Trainer, but probably wouldn't have gone well with that much gel. He looked at Proditor, and radiated guilt. "Sorry…you can go first if you know your pick…I just…can't decide."

Proditor nodded, tempted to just do that, ask the Professor for the information he wanted, and leave, but he did feel slightly bad for the kid. He also needed an in to the famously tight knit crime clans of Italia. Only Team Rocket openly recruited, but Proditor had no intention of tying himself to a sinking ship. Their newest Boss had apparently been rolled in battle by a ten-year-old multiple times, in Kanto. Or was it multiple ten-year-olds? He didn't remember, he just figured out from his research that Team Rocket was a joke, as was the Rossi Family, in Italia lately. Apparently, they'd botched some job in Paldea and had lost most of their skilled Pokémon Hunters to the International Rangers.

"I'd feel bad if I didn't help." Proditor lied. "What kind of Pokémon did you want for your starter?" The boy shrugged, and Proditor nodded, sagely. Helpful, this one. "Well surely you must like one Type over the others?"

"Fire…I guess." The boy said, frowning.

Proditor nodded, and then gave his two Pokécents. "You should go with Magby. Magmortar are very powerful, but only well-off people like you can afford their evolution item. That's probably why nobody has picked one, right Professor?"

Professor Pino was seemingly middle aged, with black hair and a goatee that was more salt than pepper. His head also had a few noticeable grays within it. He had standard physiognogamous traits commonly associated with Italia, which made him handsome, by Proditor's standards. He wore a lab coat over a collared burgundy shirt, and around his neck was a neatly wrapped scarf bearing patterns associated with ancient Italia, the Professor's primary field of study. A master of archaeology and anthropological research, he was the undisputed authority on ancient history in Europa. The Professor nodded sagely in response to Proditor's words. "It is a sad truth, but an accurate one. Magmar are hard to evolve, even with the item. Numel and Rockruff might only have one evolution, but they're much easier to train, and easily as versatile as a Magmortar."

"Yea, but that Move pool on Magmortar…" Proditor said, smirking. "Electric, Fire, and Ground Moves, limited but useful Psychic abilities. Very few things can stand up to a fully trained Magmortar."

The rich boy nodded, and cautiously approached one of the larger Magby in the area that contained the starters. Most were lounging peacefully in their corner of the lab. The grass types had almost all positioned themselves for some sun, the water types were splashing about in the small pool for them, and the fire types were as far from the pool as possible, and most were Magby. The kid walked up to the largest Magby. "Do you want to come with me?"

The Magby eyed the child, and then shot flames, small flames, into the air before him. The guards reacted, two of them drawing Pokéballs, but Proditor was quicker. "He's just testing you." Proditor said. "Magby like strength. You need to show him you're not weak."

"But I am weak…" The kid muttered, and Proditor chuckled.

"But with a Magby, you'd be strong. Go on. Order him to come with you." Proditor urged.

The child nodded. Professor Pino handed him Magby's ball, and the kid held it out to the fire type, who watched the humans converse with intelligent eyes. "I can make you into a Magmortar, Magby. Together we will be strong. Get in the ball."

The Magby glanced between Proditor and the rich child, and Proditor could tell it would've preferred him as a Trainer. His aura was stronger, and even baby Pokémon could tell that much. But he went into the ball regardless. Judging by his thoughts, he was very eager to become a Magmortar, though he wasn't exactly loyal, he'd have to be, if he wanted to become a Magmar.

The quiet kid's eyes widened, as he felt the weight of the ball, the heat that warmed his hand, and he looked at Proditor then. His tiny disguise's face smirked, as he sensed what came next. "Pick yours, then meet me outside. We should start out with a Battle. Like Red and Leaf did."

"Sure. I'll meet you outside." Proditor answered, and the child left, with his four bodyguards surrounding him at all times as he did. He could tell they were wary of Proditor for some reason, though he had no idea why such obviously accomplished and dedicated men, judging by their bodies, would be wary of a child as innocent as he thought he looked. His disguise had pale skin tones, purple eyes, and raven black hair. Not to mention the underlying darkness apparent whenever he smirked or showed enough emotion. He looked back, finally, at the Professor and said, "I need you to tell me where the Snowver around here live. Please."

Professor Pino raised a scraggly gray eyebrow. "Is that who you're picking? Going to let it visit its home one last time before setting off? Reminds me of the Champion, though she was rather unlucky when she came for a Pokémon. She just missed our last Squirtle, and all I had was a Minccino."

Proditor endured the man's rambling and took the opportunity to look around the lab properly. The sun cast a warm glow over the Renaissance villa nestled amidst Florencia's bustling streets. Ivy-clad walls embraced the centuries-old structure's exterior. The lab was thousands of years old, but many buildings in Florencia were just as old, if not older. Through the window, he could see a garden bursting with life, aromatic herbs, vibrant flowers, and ancient Arboliva that seemed to have stood in their spots for ages.

Inside the lab, frescoes adorned the walls, depicting scenes of mythological Pokémon battles intertwined with Italia's rich cultural heritage. Proditor smirked, at how wrong they'd gotten things, but he did recognize a familiar figure with an iconic bronze helmet trimmed with crimson dyed hair, clad in bronze armor, and wielding a long spear and shield. His iconic Rhydon was behind him. Proditor resisted the urge to break the ancient depiction. The lab itself had high ceilings supported by sturdy wooden beams weathered with age. The large windows were framed in heavy velvet curtains and rows of wooden workstations lined the perimeter of the room's walls.

Each workstation was a proper mess. Microscopes being used by Pino's aides had their lenses focused on delicate Pokémon fossils meticulously unearthed from ancient ruins around the region. Nearby, computer terminals hummed with the rhythmic pulse of data analysis, displaying the intricate genetic sequences of Pokémon species long thought extinct, that seemed to be appearing in Italia once again, over the last several years. Much like Orre and other regions, the Professors of the world had no solid theory as to why the Pokémon were returning to these areas, but they all agreed it was a good thing. Pokémon very obviously benefitted any environment they were left in, most of the time.

Glass display cases stood throughout the laboratory, showcasing a treasure trove of artifacts meticulously curated by Professor Pino and his team. Ancient pottery shards bore intricate patterns that spoke of a bygone era, while coins from ancient Italia made up the majority of his finds. Nestled among them were fossils of Pokémon surrounded by strange seven colored crystals, shimmering with the promise of untapped power. Weathered scrolls inscribed with runes took up the rest of the space, though their text was ancient, and written with Unown script, making them quite hard to read, given how much was eroded by time.

A large, pine desk stood at the heart of the laboratory, its surface strewn with maps, field journals, and an array of archaeological tools, a testament to Professor Pino's unwavering dedication to unraveling the mysteries of Italia's past. Behind the desk, ancient wooden shelves sagged under the weight of leather-bound tomes and rare manuscripts that had been gathered across the ages.

As Professor Pino turned around with a Pokéball, Proditor said, in his best child voice, "Actually Professor, I think I've decided I want a Budew instead." He pointed at a rather large one, that all the other Pokémon frolicking about in their corner of the lab were avoiding. It was massive by comparison, had a seemingly permanent angry scowl, and thoughts that Proditor found promising. Plus, in this age of shared Exp and pocket dimensions in one's pocket, there was absolutely no reason not to train up more useful pawns.

"Are you sure…?" The Professor asked, frowning. "That one is…rather hard to control. I was just going to release him back to the wild at this point, since he'll have a better chance of evolving there. He certainly hasn't wanted to…bond…" The Professor trailed off, as Proditor gestured to the small poisonous plant bud and it waddled over. It shrieked at him, but Proditor managed to pet it in a spot it liked. Its expression shifted to a happy one, before the scowl returned. The Professor shrugged and retrieved its ball. "Good luck…oh, and here's a map of where the Snowver live." He said, as his Rotom Phone, whose case made it look like he too was wearing a lab coat and a shirt with Italia's colors of green, white, and red, sent the information to Proditor's purple-cased Rotom Phone in under a second. Technology continued to astound him with how far they had come. In many ways, modern humanity had moved well past their crystal-wielding ancestors from the earliest days of resurgent human kingdoms and their new Pokémon allies. They had forgotten the power of aura, but they made up for it with ridiculous technology.

"I'll catch a wild one there. Thanks, Professor." Proditor said as he left the old building, and headed outside, only stopping as one of the Professor's aides handed him fifteen Pokéballs, free of charge. The child from earlier was waiting on a small Pokémon battlefield the Professor had adjacent to his garden, albeit with a wall of ancient stone and mortar separating the two. Seeing Magby was already out, Proditor released his Budew. His angry keening made Magby wince, and the young fire type glanced at his Trainer, worried that his weak nature would make him lose. Even the lab's fire types had avoided this particular Budew.

While there might have been an issue with a Budew this toxic for a normal child, Proditor had already spoken to the Budew in his mind, and promised to make him a beautiful, deadly Roserade. One whose poison would be capable of near instant death, or a state akin to it, once he embraced the Shadow. At the promise of real power, the Budew had agreed to become his. Sitting around in the sun had stopped making him strong, anyway. He needed a push, a human, to bring out his potential.

An awkward silence formed, as neither child said anything, and their Pokémon stared each other down. Finally, and somewhat impatiently, Proditor spoke. "You can go first. This guy is much higher level." His Budew looked at him with a look of pure betrayal, but the 'child' didn't even glance at the sentient sprout.

"Ember, Magby!" The boy shouted, "Then blind it! Smokescreen."

The Budew dodged the small ember on his own initiative, and Proditor stayed perfectly calm. "Growth." Budew began to get even bigger, at least until the Smokescreen blocked out the bright sun above them. "Wait for the next Ember, and then hammer it with Bullet Seed."

He heard the Magby fire off another Ember, but it seemed his smoke was also hampering his own aim. He heard Budew dodge, land, and then the rapid-fire sound of seeds hammering the general direction the Ember had come from fired off five times. The boy called for another Ember, but Magby just groaned in response. "It's weak." Proditor said, "Bullet Seed again." Budew stopped after two bursts of seeds and screeched in victory. The Smokescreen began to dissipate, revealing a fainted Magby.

Proditor smirked, "Well done…Rosator (Rose-ah-tor). Not bad at all for your first Battle." He recalled the violent Budew, and then looked at his 'rival'. His eyes were downcast, as he recalled his Magby. "I have things to do, kid, so uh…bye. See ya' around the Gyms."

Proditor walked off, and by the time the kid shouted for him to wait, realizing he'd just walked away without so much as naming himself, Proditor was already hopping through shadows, away from the area at a rapid speed. He'd run into the kid again, he was sure. Those who had battles like that at the start of their journey always ended up meeting again. It was part of his predecessor's wish. One language, to promote understanding. An unbreakable bond, cemented by a capture process, between sentients and Pokémon. And the energy from lives interacting with other lives, to create something new, and alive. The bond between rivals that pushed each other, and their Pokémon, to ever greater heights that were, in essence, infinite.

This was what the Holder of Arceus had wished for with his ultimate power, and these tropes had come to be cemented in this world, and many others, in the years since he'd made the wish. Proditor still saw it as a complete waste, but for once, his predecessor's bleeding heart would prove useful. He could stake out, and defeat, the first gym of the Italia region and if he hung around, he was sure to run into his rival. Hopefully he put up more of a fight, but Proditor wasn't worried. Both he and the Magby were weak, but now they had a drive to get stronger. Right now, all he wanted was to find his real starter Pokémon, and he had a feeling the Snowver would be able to lead him to Optimus.

Some time later, as the sun began to set, Proditor arrived in his adult base form at the place indicated on his Rotom Phone's map. He wasn't far from the Arche Valley, a place where denizens of the Sahara region had settled ages ago, bound together by their rather potent faith in the Alpha Pokémon. The valley had been created when the Imperator of Mankind had decided he wanted the seat of his Imperium, Olympia, to be closer to Germania, and Varangia. After the Judgement War concluded and those who felt Arceus's wrath were scattered to the wind, he had moved the largest mountain in the Mediterra range, and to this day it still stood where it had been placed. The resulting crater had, with time, become Arche Valley.

There were various small towns this far south in the Italia region, but Proditor had passed through them with his method of rapid shadow hopping. He hadn't even really looked at them, as he had a feeling he'd see them the slow way, if his 'rival' decided they should travel together. His thoughts had been so obvious Proditor hadn't even needed to violate his headspace to read them. He desperately wanted out from his family's shadow, to enjoy being a normal kid on a journey, and having someone to travel with would legitimize his desire. Or so the boy believed. Proditor doubted his father would just allow that, but then, from what he could tell, every crime family operated with different rules. Maybe his had a tradition of sending future crime bosses on journeys, like every other region did.

Thoughts of the boy faded, as Proditor walked into a grove hidden deep in the verdant forests of southern Italia. He was close to one of the truly massive Mediterra mountains, but before the slope up to the titanic peak rose too far, he came upon the Snowver's home. Just cold enough for snow to reach them, but low enough in altitude to grow enough berries, the ice and grass types had found a perfect balance, as they often did in the wild, in which to survive and thrive. As he entered their domain, two large male Snowver approached him, warning him away. Proditor simply waved a hand, having long since mastered controlling the minds of this species.

He'd used his fledgling powers on Optimus back in the day, and he had, without a doubt, mentally scarred the young Snowver in a way that had never healed right in the years that followed. Optimus had become a receptacle for his darkest emotions, and had by far the deepest Shadow infusion of any of his party members. In the end, he'd barely been conscious, mentally, as Proditor recalled those final days with a frown. A slavering beast, always in his Mega Form, and unstoppable in his rage.

He had the Snowver guide him to their patriarch and matriarch, as Snowver colonies typically had two leaders, who did not always end up being a mated pair. Some Abomasnow stuck to their partner, some were more casual and reproduced with whoever had seeds ready to grow, and that inevitably caused fights, but it seemed the two leaders he was brought to had consorts of their own, a male and female harem respectively, of other Abomasnow. Indeed, he'd never seen so many adults of the species living together in such harmony. They regarded him with suspicion as he was brought in by their guards, but they did not outright attack him.

With a subtle hand wave, he sent the Snowver back to their posts, and the matriarch watched them, concerned, and then looked at him, with distrust. She no doubt had some sense that trickery was being used, but the human had approached them with ease and peace. Something humans never usually did. Proditor spoke gently into their minds, though the simple grass and ice types still winced at the contact. "I seek an ancient Abomasnow. My first partner. He would be…thousands of years old, by now."

"The elders are sleeping." The male answered in his mind. Not with words, but emotions and images Proditor translated to speech within his own head. "Leave them be, Human. They are angry when disturbed." He saw images of humans trying to harvest them for lumber, and getting speared with icy roots for their trouble. Their lifeblood had only made the sleeping Abomasnow stronger.

"I only seek my partner." He answered honestly. "I will not wake the others. I may not even be able to wake him, but I need to try. I miss him. I owe him."

Finally, the matriarch spoke. "Your mind…is dark. But as long as you do not wake the others…you may search for your partner. In peace. Do not interact with our little ones!" She added forcefully, and Proditor nodded, giving her a smile as he spoke verbally.

"I will leave your young ones alone, find my partner, and then leave. Peacefully." The two Abomasnow slowly nodded at him, accepting his tone more than grokking his words, and he made his way out of their large, broken, ancient tree stump home, and further into the forest. As he ascended the massive mountain the slope got steeper quickly, but he also found the shapes of 'dead' Abomasnow, elders who had become so old or strong that it was easier to just sit in place year after year absorbing nutrients than walking about, slowly, eating berries and leaves. In fact, that was the fate of most grass types that outlived their humans. Eventually, after being in this 'tree form' long enough, their spark of life would fade, but Proditor knew Optimus wouldn't just go quietly into the night. He'd wait for his Trainer, like a good boy.

Some of the 'sleeping' Abomasnow in the grove looked like their Mega Form, albeit frozen and discolored. This high up on one of the Mediterra mountains, only ice types thrived. He noted a number of things growing from the Abomasnow corpse grove. Berries, old Earth fruits, and occasionally large green pine cones that would, when they fell to the ground, eventually grow into a Snowver. Their species didn't actually need partners for procreation, but having one greatly sped up the process of reproduction. They never actually stopped producing Snowver cones though, and this method of reproducing had ensured that their species survived and thrived for millennia. They were probably the most dominant species in the Mediterra mountains, at least at the lower elevations, and thankfully they were also the most friendly. Many an Abomasnow had saved humans caught in a blizzard from freezing to death, and as long as they weren't angered, they were generally wary or helpful to humans. Some, in resorts for snow sports, were exceptionally friendly, and well fed as a result.

Eventually, after a regular human would have long since succumbed to the cold, Proditor came upon a truly ancient and twisted tree, that nothing was growing upon. This part of the grove had the actual dead Abomasnow, those who had been without a spark of life or motility for thousands of years. It was here that he finally found his starter. In the vision, he'd seen himself kneeling before what he'd sensed was Optimus. Seeing the reality, however, Proditor fell to his knees because his starter was well and truly gone. His head had been chopped with something sharp, and there were signs of burn marks on his branches. Humans had done this, he had no doubt, but it had clearly happened so long ago that asking the Abomasnow about it would be useless. They were worse at recounting ancient events than humanity was. Murder filled his heart, but he knew the culprits were likely already dead by now, and killing their descendants would accomplish nothing. If he had to guess, his starter had waited for him, and while he had, the cones, and Snowver he'd produced, had inherited his top tier stats, and his Shadow infusion. Eventually, someone had figured out their source, and destroyed it.

He put a hand on the thoroughly charred bark of his oldest friend, and grimaced. Someone had been very thorough in scouring his partner. He blinked, as he felt one of his Pokéballs open, and he raised a brow at the Budew. Rosator. His new 'starter'. A partnership of convenience, at most. Proditor ignored him, forcing himself to take in every detail of his partner, and desperately look for a pine cone. But he knew better than that. There was nothing. Optimus was gone, and he couldn't even acquire one of his offspring.

For his part, the Budew saw the ancient dead grass type, and his new Trainer's reaction, and put one and two together. He also understood that made him number three, a third wheel, a second starter gathered for convenience. He'd known almost immediately that the small child was a disguise for the human beneath, but that had only made Rosator more interested in being his partner. The small humans irritated him, but some of the older ones could easily make him strong. He didn't know much about the world, but he hadn't just sat in the sunlight with his eyes closed. He'd watched the humans closely, and he knew with age came competence. His human's age had felt…incomprehensibly old, and thus Rosator assumed he would know how to make him into a deadly Roserade.

As he examined the dead Abomasnow, who seemed to be very important to his human, Rosator squinted at his mouth, screeched, and then hopped into it. Proditor frowned, but watched the sprout. He heard the cracking of bark, and fury overtook him. There was a lot of emotion that came with this revelation, and his new Budew made himself a lightning rod for it. "How dare you touch him! Get out of there you-" He paused in his tirade as he saw the mouth of his starter glow with green light.

The sound of rapidly fired seeds filled his ears, and then the Budew hopped back out of Optimus's mouth. He hopped over to Proditor and handed him a Snowver cone. After examining it, Proditor frowned. It was slightly green, but very much dead and frozen. It likely had been for centuries. He dropped it to the ground. "I don't need keepsakes…" He snarled at the Budew, but the sentient sprout could tell he was hurting.

"Budew!" He shrieked, before hopping towards the stunted Snowver cone. Proditor raised an eyebrow, but didn't stop him. He almost said something as the violent Budew took the seed in his mouth, as guessing by where he'd pulled it from that was gross, but then the Budew used Absorb on it. He felt anger as the last green his starter would ever produce was turned to black, but then, he hadn't wanted the keepsake.

The seed faded in a shadowy puff as Budew inhaled whatever dormant power was within through his grass typing. Proditor raised an eyebrow, as the Budew's color became lighter green, and the seeds that would become bouquets once he evolved turned black and light purple. Dark colored sparkles radiated from him, as he shrieked his dominance, and suffered from the pain of so many memories filling his tiny brain. Right now, they were a seemingly endless jumble that ended in pain, fire, and loss.

Proditor knelt down beside Rosator, and psychically calmed his mind. "That…was foolish. But you wanted his memories, eh?" The sentient sprout nodded. "Once you grow, you'll probably be able to see more. For now…Optimus lives on, in you. Rest, and return." Of Optimus's ball, there was no sign, and he sighed as yet another of his superior capture spheres was lost to him.

With a sigh he resigned himself to raising a new starter, and began heading for Aurelia, the region's capital, which was home to three of the region's gyms, though the Italia circuit had Trainers hit them for their first, third, and eighth badges. He wasn't super familiar with their types, but he wondered if he could solo the region with just his 'shiny' Budew. Either way his travels would bring him into contact with plenty of psychics. The potential he'd sensed in Florencia alone had practically made him drool in anticipation.

Cascaraffa City - Paldea Region

Alex smirked as Kofu made his appearance and asked his question. He shrugged at Aria. "Sorry cuz, priority goes to the Victor."

Aria just sighed, nodded, and took her spot by Isamu, who seemed to try to cheer her up. Kofu rode the escalator down to the arena level, not nearly flamboyant enough to jump, like some of his contemporaries might have. He cracked his knuckles and rolled his burly neck as he spoke. Alex recalled Khan, as he listened.

"Four on four. No substitutions. World Tournament rules." Alex nodded, though he had a bad feeling about how this one would go. Kofu seemed to be in some kind of groove, probably thanks to his recent accolades. "Go! Pelipper!"

Alex contemplated picking Leo, but he remembered Temere also was strong enough now, and could use a workout. "Temere. It's time to Rock!" As the poisonous rock lizard appeared, he started belting out the opening chords to Rivers in the Desert. As Pelipper's Drizzle started to make it rain, electricity arced through the air as Temere just kept progressing through the song.

Seeing that Alex was more into head bopping at the moment, Kofu seized the initiative. "Blow this beat back to the past, where it belongs! Hurricane!" The powerful Pelipper let off a massive Hurricane, but Temere didn't let that stop him. In fact, as the winds lifted into the air he looked like a proper Rock God, and the spinning ineffective damage only served to turn his rock anthem into an electric hurricane with the rain's help.

Alex smirked, shouting out over the jamming crowd, "Send it back! Rock'em with your Hurricane!" Catching what his Trainer was putting down, Temere shifted songs, and the electric cyclone began spinning towards Pelipper. Kofu tried to shout for a Blizzard, but it was too little too late. Electricity surged through the Pelipper, and Temere rode the dying winds to the ground right as he hit the guitar solo for the song, Rock You Like a Hurricane. Kofu's eyes narrowed at how nonchalant his opponent was being, and brought out his next pick. Veluza.

Alex straightened up, as this was Kofu's ace, or one of them anyway, and it had type advantage. "Discharge!" Alex blinked, as the Toxtricity changed his strumming to a low, rapid beat, as he prepared his next tribute to the only deities he paid homage to; the Gods of Rock'n'Roll. Kofu and his Veluza shared a look, as its notoriously fast speed went into play, and a pair of Psychic Fangs manifested around its actual fangs. "Any day, Tem…" Alex said, as the rapid, but low beat continued.

In his head he heard Temere's far too casual voice, "I'm thinking…Eye of the Incineroar. Astrum? Leo?" There was approval from the majority of the team, though a few holdouts like Canis and their Trainer preferred Tem to take things just a bit more seriously. Thus far, Temere had been strumming out his beat with one hand causing his body to spark with building electric power, and then, in the same instant that Veluza neared him with Psychic Fangs, he hit the first notable note of Eye of the Incineroar, and a wave of high-powered electric Discharge smashed through the attack and sent its user reeling with an absurdly lucky critical hit. Temere wasn't done though, as the beat kept going, and then he hit his rubbery but oh-so-musical chest organ once, twice, three times more, another trio of strums, followed, and then another. By this point, his Discharge was still going, had formed a spherical electric barrier that Veluza kept getting hit by, as it just kept expanding, and Temere was just there, rocking out in the middle of the electric chaos solely because he could. The crowd ate it up. Kofu had trained his team to a solid eighty in terms of level, if not higher, but the higher a Pokémon went, the harder it was to gain Exp and the longer it took to reach the final plateau, that was by no means the end.

Temere had learned that the more he played, the faster songs and chords he found, the harder it was for his opponents to stop what he put down. Between his own wins and the Exp gain from the rest of the team, he'd reached the same plateau as Canis, Nox, Arbor, and Cinder had. A strength to rival the first string battlers. His power didn't keep Kofu from attacking though, as the Water Type Master could recognize the hubris that came with strength, when he saw it. What irritated him most was his Trainer letting his Toxtricity rock so hard he filled the entire arena with dangerous levels of electricity. The shields weren't really meant for sustained blocking, and soon they'd start to draw on the city's power instead of their own battery network.

"Night Slash, and Psycho Cut, Veluza!" The fumbling fish rolled in the air, getting its bearing before Night Slashing into the Discharge. Temere, who by now was almost through Eye of the Incineroar, just glanced at the psychic blades, and bolts of intense plasma from the top of the electric dome reduced them to smoke.

"Finish it, Tem." Alex said quietly, yet somehow, Kofu heard him perfectly. He grimaced. He was nowhere near done yet.

"Again! Psychic Fangs this time! Use Aqua Jet too!" The Veluza jettisoned its spare flesh, as it felt its Trainer's resolve.

Temere's luck from earlier turned as his shift to a Thunderbolt mid song made his chest screech, in a bad way, as his attack completely whiffed. Then, Veluza was there, and the damage from the rapid, multiple chomps of Psychic Fangs took the rock lizard down hard. Alex frowned and recalled him. "Leo."

The thunder cat appeared with a roar, and Alex didn't waste time, they couldn't, against a Veluza. "Discharge, full spread!"

"Think I can't deal with Electric Pokémon? Drill Run!" Now that Veluza wasn't being overpowered by a type weakness and an overwhelming attack fueled by pure Rock'n'roll, it could focus enough to form the ground typed energy it had learned to wield. It barreled towards Leo, through his Discharge, and hammered him hard, but the thunder cat had countered on his own, with Ice Fang. The pair of Pokémon exploded from the move collision.

"Crunch, Leo!" Alex shouted, but he couldn't really see past the explosion, and there was an ungodly shrieking sound coming from within the dust cloud, as the ferocious fish filet faced off against the thunder cat. Finally, Alex heard Crunch land, and a fainted Veluza was spat from the fading cloud towards Kofu, as a very injured Leo snarled at him.

Alex frowned, as Kofu sent out his third, a Wugtrio, and probably the only other team member he had capable of ground moves. Leo had a counter for his weakness too, though. Trailblaze had been a very popular move with a surprising amount of his team, and there had been a solid few days where those who could, had blazed it up and had a blast doing so. Their frolicking had helped them learn the move, which was fine by their Trainer, so long as they learned it. Sure enough, the Earthquake came from the powerful Wugtrio as all three heads, heedless of pain apparently, smashed into the ground and produced a fair-sized Earthquake, for a water type that wasn't a mudfish or a mud frog.

Leo Trailblazed his way into a masterful Thunder Claw, or at least, he thought he did. "Sucker Punch." Kofu said. The exposed crimson heads suddenly jerked upwards at Leo, and he lost his focus as their shape disturbed him on a level he couldn't articulate. Then, they hammered him with dark energy. He went skipping across the field, tried to rise, and then fainted, and Alex started to sweat as he became tied with Kofu again. "Arbor. You're up." His Sceptile popped out of his ball at his Trainer's command and got ready. "Mega Evolve! We're done holding back."

Kofu raised and clenched a fist. "You fool! I just won…Wugtrio, Blizzard!"

Alex smirked. "Block with Rock Tomb!" With a smooth movement worthy of an earthbender, Arbor raised a rocky shield around himself, though some of the ice managed to get through. "Now, Sunny Day! And draw in all of Temere and Leo's electricity!" A seed from Arbor's tail shot out of his stone fortress, burning high in the sky with the light of the sun, even though night was swiftly covering the desert. Then, the residual energy from Temere's attack that had been electrifying the terrain, zipped towards the Mega Sceptile's tail, as his attack power rose again.

"Charge Blizzard, and unload on it when it attacks." Kofu said, calmly.

"Get close! Agility, and then Detect!" The Blizzard went off as Arbor poked his head out after using Agility, and then with Detect, he managed to dodge his way far up above the Blizzard. "Solar Beam!" Alex shouted. Arbor rocked in the air as the powerful grass beam fired immediately from his mouth, and Wugtrio didn't have a chance to dodge, not that it could have with how slow it was compared to a Mega Sceptile.

Kofu recalled his Wugtrio, and then glared at the Mega Sceptile, and his Trainer. At least he was being more serious now. He grabbed a rather old Luxury Ball then, one he'd upgraded his starter to, after he got too strong to really ever be used in a Gym Battle. Someone in the sizable crowd shouted, "Holy Muk! He's bringing it out!"

Alex blinked and looked around as the crowd started cheering. Evidently, they knew something he didn't. He had Arbor refresh the Sunny Day as Kofu dithered, and the seed he launched regrew rapidly. Alex tried to make out the crowd's words but couldn't as it all sounded like a jumble. At least until Kofu shouted, "Go! Crocpot!"

A Feraligator at the peak of its power appeared from the Luxury Ball it called home, and stretched its massive, muscled body, as it eyed Arbor, and smirked confidently. "Oh my Arceus! He brought out the Crooocpooot!" One fan yelled, foaming at the mouth, before he fainted from overexcitement. Alex just blinked. Apparently, Crocpot was a big deal. Alex just kept trying not to laugh at the name. "Crocpot. Ice Punch…and don't let up." Kofu ordered, and the Feraligator grinned, before it fell onto all fours and scurried towards Arbor.

"Seed Bomb! Tangle it up!" Arbor fired a bombard of seeds at the speedy water gator, but the seeds sprouted where they landed, damaging Crocpot and slowing him with large vines that he had to waste time and energy punching through. "Perfect." Alex said, smirking. "Triple Solar Beam, go!" Though it burned up his Sunny Day faster, Arbor summoned the ferocious grass move's power in both hands, and his mouth, and then fired on the entangled gator.

Silence reigned, as the crowd waited for the smoke to clear, and only Arbor's panting filled the air. Then, Alex noticed it. "Arbor! It can Dig!" Given Feraligator's potential for other ground moves, and its claws, learning to Dig probably hadn't been too hard to do in a desert biome. Arbor didn't wait, he jumped, but it was already too late. Crocpot burst from the ground with Dig, fists covered in ice, and began pummeling the Mega Sceptile in the air with three combinations of double Ice Punches. Arbor fell, his Mega Form fading, and Alex grimaced. This thing was going to be hard to beat, especially without his anti-water team.

"Send out yer own starter!" Kofu shouted confidently; arms crossed. "Unless yer scared of another quadruple Ice weakness!" Crocpot laughed at him and smashed his icy fists together.

Alex ignored their jibes and closed his eyes. A brief Future Sight never hurt. What he saw did, however, hurt quite a lot. Terra would lose. Hard. Nine times of ten, and even with Thick Fat, it was an all but guaranteed loss because of a lack of speed and a way to keep distance between him and Crocpot. Even if Alex got clever and used Saur instead, he saw the Feraligator chomping through his vines with Ice Fang, and then pummeling him with Ice Punch as well. Thanks to Sheer Force, those moves were even more brutal. His partners wouldn't be frozen but taking more damage with a quad weakness was a guaranteed loss. If only there was a way to…

Alex smirked confidently, as his shift in his plan for the battle changed his future to one that had far, far better odds. More confident now, he opened his eyes. "Terra!" His Torterra appeared as he heard his name, and glanced at his Trainer, somewhat surprised given what was on the line and what Future Sight had shown. There was just one problem with Future Sight; he'd assumed he'd use Mega Evolution, like he usually did, but a Tera type would only have one weakness, and that would be enough to match Crocpot. Besides, Terra also had a move he wanted to employ after basking in the sun all day and being inspired by their anime, like Alex had been. He raised his Tera Orb, and Kofu smirked, nodding in approval. The best way to nullify a quadruple weakness was to remove the weakness entirely, or at least lessen it. "It's time, Terra…" Alex sent Espeo's ball subtly into the crowd, just in case the energy barriers failed, and the subtle psychic cat idly licked a paw, waiting to act if necessary.

"Verdant Cataclysm!"

As Alex chucked the Tera Orb and his starter became covered in a green tinted crystalline shield that caused flora to spring up around his titanic feet, Terra roared at Crocpot, and then began one of his ultimate moves. First, he used Curse, which for him manifested as an ominously glowing Taijitu sphere on the trunk of his tree. Seeing that, Crocpot launched forward, also becoming covered in crystalline aura as Kofu tossed his own Tera Orb, though his was ice. Now he'd be even stronger.

Seeing the change, Terra switched tactics, as the entire lower city began to rumble. Huge vines sprouted all around the battlefield at his command, and he rose atop one far above Crocpot's immediate reach. The field's box-shaped energy barrier became akin to a forest made of massive, twisted tree trunks, and Alex had to admit, there were definitely some strong Senju Clan vibes from this attack. Especially as Terra adapted to his opponent's change of type weakness, and used the vines to grab large rocks. He proceeded to brutally hammer Crocpot with them. The first struck hard, but the nimble alligator dodged the second and third, only to then crumple as a surprise fourth hammered him from his blindspot. A fifth rock-vine struck. Then a sixth. Then a seventh. Frenzy Plant could probably have kept going, but Terra paused, as he saw the Terastal Shield shatter amidst the dust of his strikes.

Then, suddenly, Kofu shouted, "Ice Fang!"

"Grassy Glide and Wood Hammer!"

Lacking his shield, but still conscious, a very damaged Crocpot leapt with ease now that the vines had settled, up towards Terra, fangs encased in ice. Terra didn't run though. He waited by the edge of his perch, and when the Feraligator leapt for his head, he glided back. Crocpot landed and kept attacking, but Terra was already gliding forward again, shifting his momentum into the powerful grass attack. The two collided, suffering damage as they entered a contest of strength. Slowly, thanks mostly to the Tera boost, the ice around Crocpot's fangs cracked, and shattered, and with a roar Terra sent him flying through one of the large, raised branches. With less momentum, he hit another and fell, very unconscious by that point, to the ground.

Terra roared his dominance loud enough to be heard across the desert, and then slowly started trying to retract the massive roots that had sprouted into trees. Kofu started moving towards Crocpot and found his path opened by Terra. He gave the mighty but very wounded grass tortoise a nod, and then tended to his starter.

Alex did the same, bamfing up beside him, and frowning at just how hurt he was. "That was…way too close…I need to remember Terastallizing is an option, now."

Terra snorted. "My Mega Form could have handled it."

Alex shook his head. "Thick Fat does help, but not against a beast like that. If you hadn't gone all out with that Move, that might've ended badly."

"Speaking of…" Terra rumbled, as Alex realized he was embarrassed, "These roots…or trees now I suppose…they are much harder to remove…they seem, umm, permanent."

"Of course they are…that's alright, bud. Take a rest." Alex chuckled and recalled his partner. He floated down to Kofu, who offered a burly arm. Alex shook it, with a nod, noting with amusement that his first battle with a powerful water type master in a new region had also been rather close. History continued to repeat, which meant if he wasn't careful next would be…a massive black tail flashed through his mind, as well as the sickening crunch of bones. His bones.

He suppressed the image, and focused on Kofu, blinking away his trauma. "That was a great Battle, Leader Kofu." Alex started, as the handshake ended.

Kofu's face shifted to a slight frown. "I 'dunno 'bout that start…yer Toxtricity seemed more interested in his music."

Alex chuckled, "That's just how their species Battles…I think. I'm impressed your Veluza managed to slash through it."

Kofu nodded, as a proper smile took over now. "If ya say so." He handed Alex the Water Badge then, and Alex eyed the small metal circle. "Now, about these trees…" He said, gesturing to the remnants of Terra's move.

"Yeeaa…" Alex said awkwardly, "Apparently Terra can't-" At that moment, his Gallade decided to pop out, and he smirked at humans, before vanishing with nothing but his speed. Kofu stroked his blue and white beard as he watched the Gallade, clearly impressed.

Within five minutes the spiral slashing Gallade had reduced the massive limbs to lumber, and he'd even neatly stacked them, as he slashed them into place. "Uhh…" Alex said, as his Gallade landed and bowed before the now once more visible crowd. "Free lumber…?"

Kofu let out a belly laugh and slapped his shoulder companionably. "I'm sure we can put it to use! And he even stacked it off of the field! That Gallade o' yours is impressive, Dragon Emperor. You gonna stay fer your cousin's match?" Alex nodded, and he let Arthur stay out for the crowd's adulation. Apparently fresh lumber was pretty hard to come by in a desert town that was unwilling to tarnish their local flora in the name of practicality.

Aria seemed nervous as she looked at her cousin and saw him recording for posterity. Kofu gave her the usual spiel, and then the battle began. Given how suited she was for facing water types, the battle was over quickly. Even when Kofu Terastallized his Crabominable to a water type, Aria kept her cool and Terastallized her Floragato, whose Seed Bomb one shot the Crabominable, like it had everything else. As the Crabominable fainted, her Floragato started shining, and she lost her cool as her eyes went wide, and she recorded the evolution from a closer perspective. The two hugged as they celebrated and claimed their victory. Kofu gave them their winnings, their TM, and their badge, and then he made a joke about getting rolled by both Redwoods, after calling them out.

He didn't seem in bad spirits though, as he sauntered off confidently to the Pokémon Center. Isamu congratulated her as she came back, and she looked shyly up at her cousin, which amused him. "So, how did I do, cuz?"

Alex pretended to think seriously for a moment, and then the smirk broke through. "You rolled him, Aria. Flattened, rolled up, and tossed aside I believe is the terminology. And you were at his team's level, too. I only have one note…that maybe I should've followed as well. Terastallize early." She and Isamu just looked at him, as though he was strange. "What? Why not? Every Gym in this Region is mono typed. You face a Psychic? Terastallize early with Dark or Bug. You face an Ice user? Terastallize early with Fire or Rock or Fighting. Honestly I don't know why Trainers here don't do that more."

Isamu chuckled. "It's a uh…cultural thing. Apparently, it's bad manners to Terastallize early. It's usually saved for the end part of a Battle, and for a finishing move."

Alex just smirked at him. "I know you know how El Primero conducts his Battles. I saw his Gym circuit. He Terastallized early all the time. Still does."

"Florian senpai is more the Exception, than the rule…though you do have a point…he made the Gyms look easy, and part of that was because of the Titan Pokémon he and his group brought down, but the other part was strategy and Terastallizing early." He blinked at Aria. "Your cousin may be onto something."

She just giggled at Isamu. "Well he is the Victory League Champion. That wouldn't work all the time, though. Chairwoman Geeta and El Primero are both multi-Type users. In that case…we'd want to Terastallize when they do…?" She trailed off, looking to Alex for wisdom.

He nodded. "Ideally, you'd know the Tera Types of her team beforehand, but that seems a bit…cheap to me. I would rather guess what their Tera Type is. I'm not usually wrong. But yes, you'd want to switch after they Terastallize, if you can't counter the Type they become. It doesn't seem to increase their health or defense too much, so as long as you have something that usually faints whatever Type they become, you should be fine."

After a moment, Isamu asked, "What about Stellar Tera Types?"

Alex blinked at him. "Stellar whatnow?"

He seemed disappointed, but then, it was common knowledge that he'd only just gotten a Tera Orb. "Stellar Types. They retain the weaknesses of their original Type, and for every Type of Move a Pokémon can use, they get a STAB boost to the first attack with that Type. But it only works once, outside of Tera Dens."

Alex frowned and called up Lux to view his boxes. "I don't think I even have a…hahaha…of course he is." A quick check revealed that the rest of his team did not have Stellar Tera Typing, but there was one exception to that rule, and that exception was Arthur.

Sensing Alex wanted to leave, and was talking about him, Arthur bid their fans farewell, and bamfed over. "Talking about my flawless sword strokes, are we?" He asked the trio.

"No." Alex said, with a taunting tone. "We're discussing the fact that you're a very special boi."

Arthur crossed his arms and snorted. "I think we've all figured that out by this point. But…hold on, how am I even More special now?" He said, hearing the thoughts of the rest of his brothers, who'd started chanting 'very special Sword Boi' in their heads.

Alex repeated what a Stellar Type was, and how it worked, and Arthur pondered the information that he had, apparently, been one his entire life. "Huh." Was all he contributed, as he processed the information. With how many types of physical slashing attacks, even ghost ones, he could perform, he started to understand why. Ghost energy was a weakness, but he'd learned to manipulate it. Enough to punch things, anyway.

"Alright guys," Alex said with a tone of finality. "I have some Polteageist to harvest for shards, and then I'm off to…train before the Battles for the Superior Sixteen slots."

Isamu grinned at him. "Number nine in the world, after beating Kofu. Are you sure that's the spot you want?"

Alex shrugged. "As long as I'm in the top thirty-two, my spot won't matter. Not until the Battles for the right to hold one of those slots are held. I'm not going completely off the grid. If I fall too far behind and the number of points to catch up becomes unsurpassable, I'll have to come back and…I dunno, Battle my way through Galar. Their Gym Leaders are always highly ranked, and eager to Battle."

Aria spoke up, then. "Would you…travel with us to Alfornada Town? Your Polteageists will be out there, in large numbers."

Alex shook his head. "It's best if you and Isamu go on your own. I don't want to interfere with your journey, and I need to take care of a few things once I leave Paldea."

Isamu typed some numbers into his Rotom Phone, and then showed Alex the calculator. "Actually, judging by the base speed of Salamence, traveling with us would only slow you by, at most, half a day, and uhh…I would like it if you traveled with us for a bit too. The cave we need to traverse is…a lot. Multiple steep slopes. Home to multiple Dragon Types. It's a Garchomp breeding ground, but it's also the best place to catch one."

After pondering for a while, Alex nodded. "Alright. I'll go with you two, for a bit." He turned then, as he heard a familiar voice calling out his name. "Seems Adrien and Marinette have caught up. Good." He waved them over, gave introductions, and could already tell Aria was a big fan of Marinette's. "The Leaning Tower is also near Alfornada Town, so you two can join us. The route there is a large cave with a high population of Dragon Types, and probably anything strong enough to survive with them. The larger our group, the better chance we don't get attacked by a wandering Garchomp."

"We'd be happy to travel with you guys." Adrien said, "Connor told me I was ready to become a Scale in full. He left the final decision to you, though Alex."

Alex looked between the two teens, and then paused, as he looked a bit closer. Body language told quite a tale, and judging by theirs, they'd solidly cemented their romance. If they were old enough for that they were old enough to function as Scales. He'd still need to test them, of course. "If I'm promoting one of you, I'll promote the other, too. Marinette is probably as ready as you are by now, Adrien. I'll test the two of you when we camp on the road tonight. If you pass, you'll be free to uhh…return to Kalos, once you've seen Paldea's sights."

Quietly, Marinette looked up at him and said, "You really think I'm ready?"

Alex smirked at her. "Tikki does. She has for a while now. I trust her judgment, but it's always good to be sure. I'll face you two in a Double Battle, with a team comparable to what you might find in the Elite Four of any Region. If you can beat me, you'll be able to handle pretty much any threat Kalos throws at you. And you'll also have Connor around to back you up, as needed."

With their course set, the group of Trainers healed their teams, and then set off on the path adjacent to the desert that would lead them towards distant Alfornada. Western Paldea's Area One was actually quite beautiful at night and Alex had them keep one partner out, just in case. They were all riding on Terra, who had learned to glide through the earth and grass at a standard walking pace, without it being too tiring. Tikki was sitting in his tree's branches, while Plagg was draped on one of the monolithic pointed stone spikes that grew out of the massive earth tortoise, watching their rear. Leif was snuggled up between his favorite Redwoods, and he was happy, judging by the scent he gave off.

Isamu had opted not for Zyx, which was what he called his main Zygarde Core, but rather Kanchi, his Riolu, who was chatting with Canis near the middle of Terra's shell, under his tree. The local camping Trainers watched them pass in awe, and it was in this manner that they managed to cross the vast space of Area One, all the way to the border with Area Six, and the entrance to Alfornada Cavern.

Alex let Kalagon out as their guard by the cave entrance, while everyone else set up dinner, and their usual preparations for binging some anime. Then, finally, once they'd all eaten, Alex took Adrien and Marinette out to a space suited for battling, and as their Pokémon came out, they cleared the roaming, wild, but friendly Pokémon out of their way. A few stayed to watch once Alex heard Tikki explaining what they were about to do.

For his part, Alex was picking his own partners. "One round, two on two, for practice, using World Tournament rules." He finally settled on Invictus and Astrum, while the pair of aspiring superheroes went with their two strongest partners. Astrum had been sleeping until recently, as the events in Koria and then with Alduin had left him quite drained. When he did finally awaken, he claimed that the world felt a little brighter, and now that Alex thought about it, that'd been right after he and his allies had essentially ended world hunger.

The teenagers had a brief strategy meeting as they saw his choices, and how strong they were. Astrum was a bit lower level than the others, but Invictus made up for that with his higher level and absurd defense. Canis acted as their referee, and as he began the battle, Alex seized the initiative. "Invictus, tank their attacks, Astrum, Moonblast the Liepard!"

Plagg had moved in front of Tikki to be her damage sponge, but his eyes widened, as he saw the golden feathered Togekiss taking aim at him with an almost disturbing look of serenity as he engaged in battle. A super effective sphere of Moon doom formed above Astrum as Invictus readied his arms to block. Panicking as their plan immediately went to Muk, Marinette shouted, "Tikki, Bullet Punch!"

Alex just smirked. "That won't be enough, Padawan." Astrum rocked in the air as he fired off his ridiculously powerful attack. Tikki raised her fists, confident she could at least deflect the beam of fairy power, but as she quickly required her other set of arms to block too, she grunted from the effort, and was then swallowed by the width of the attack. She managed to weather the attack, and keep it from Plagg, but the brightness from the move momentarily kept the Liepard from attacking.

"Again, Astrum! Invictus, Pin Missile!" As Astrum charged his attack, Invictus's pins went up and through the Moonblast, and became wreathed in fairy energy, as the now quadruple effective move hurtled towards Plagg.

"Faint Attack!" "Bug Buzz!" Plagg disappeared, while Tikki launched her attack at the tank-like war hedgehog. Invictus was smirking though, just like his Trainer.

"Spiky Shield. You know what to do, Astrum." Alex said confidently as he crossed his arms. Astrum had continued charging his Moonblast, and now the darkness seeking Fairy Missiles were tracking Plagg as he tried to approach for his attack.

The Spiky Shield fired rather large but still somehow not very effective spikes into Tikki while Invictus tanked the Bug Buzz. As Adrien saw what was coming, he shouted, "Forget the attack Plagg! Get out of there!" Still hiding for his attack, the barely visible Liepard danced around the Fairy Missiles with impressive dodges. Adrien clenched a fist as their momentum began to shift. "Good, now Iron Tail!"

"You may fire when ready, Astrum." Alex said, chuckling as the fairy type cried with pure, undiluted joy as it fired its potent fairy death beam at the mostly invisible shiny Liepard. His Iron Tail became defensive, as the sheer size and power of the Moonblast threatened to overpower even his mighty tail, which when turned to steel became a rather wicked looking scythe. "Invictus, Close Combat, and counter her Moves as you see fit. Watch out for Air Slash." Tikki had just finished pulling out his massive spines from her comparatively small frame when the mighty Chesnaught began stomping towards her, fists alight with fighting energy.

As the Moonblast finally ran out of steam, Plagg shouted, "Now, Adrien!"

The blonde teen sighed heavily, and then with as much fake enthusiasm as he could muster shouted, "Iron Reaper…!"

"SOUL STEALER!" Plagg shrieked, as his scythe tail became a steel gray blur. Astrum cried out as the special Liepard hit him critically with three deep steel-colored slashes across his chest and got his team a much-needed faint. The Liepard's dark eyes shifted to Invictus, and he melted into the shadows.

Alex manually pumped a Heal Pulse into Astrum's ball, which the technology magnified, making it akin to a trip to a Pokémon Center. Plagg's attack had been rather brutal, but he had a feeling the dark type hadn't meant to hit quite so hard. He'd likely just been caught up in another of his special attacks, probably from some anime. After learning the truth behind Plagg's power, as well as its dark source, that Adrien had shared with himself and Connor, Alex could forgive the wounds that had been inflicted. It remained to be seen if Astrum would. Alex frowned, as he suspected his Togekiss would now probably stay in his ball until the fierce Liepard wasn't around, and Alex couldn't blame him. He felt guilt from Adamanteus and addressed his entire team as he and Invictus locked eyes and nodded. "This is the price of power. You have to have perfect control of your element, or you Will hurt someone without meaning to. Like Yveltal does."

Alex's body flared with blue aura, radiating from his Key Stone as he activated it. Invictus's Infinity Energy met Alex's Spiral Power in the space between them and catapulted him to the next stage of his species evolution. His shell grew to encase his lower body, like a turtle, and almost reminiscent of a Blastoise, the four large spines on the back of his shell became cannon-like, and the much smaller pair on his 'shoulders' were also similarly changed, but had smaller spines loaded in them. Invictus flexed the grassy buckler shields he could form at will on his forearms, and then the upper two spike-cannons lightly shot their payload into the air. Two more spines immediately replaced them from within the shell, and Invictus grinned wickedly as he caught the massive, blade-sharp quills by their shafts, and fell into a battle crouch.

He seemed to have retained his typing, but Alex didn't have time to check his ability. They hadn't had him fight in this form too often, as his base one still needed work, but he was comfortable enough to battle. By crouching, Invictus quickly became ingrained in the ground as Tikki and Plagg came in towards him. While holding his quills, he was essentially a spiny fortress of pain for anything that tried attacking him physically. Plagg found out first, as he tried to land his Faint Attack, and then went wide eyed as the attack power of a Mega Chesnaught sent him a solid thirty feet in the air with a super effective Power Up Punch channeled of course, through the painfully sharp and probably poisonous quill-sword he used.

Plagg slowly stood up by his Trainer, a testament to just how strong he was, and Adrien gave him a Full Restore. His wounds healed and his poisoning faded, as he whirled on Invictus. Seeing how badly Plagg fared, Tikki had kept her distance. The Liepard nodded at Tikki, and then Alex heard him shout to his Trainer, unnecessarily as they were close now, "It's time Adrien! To go beyond my limits! Beyond Evolution!"

Adrien just shook his head, but he was still smirking. "Plagg. Mega Evolve." To someone who had seen Sombrador, Alex recognized the lineage Liepard clearly shared with it. Long saber fangs grew downward from its canine teeth, another tail sprouted, and both became black, with a sheen like metal and a shape like a scythe. Plagg's eyes were glowing red, as were his spots, and to confirm Alex's theory, he'd also become part dragon type. A dark dragon with strong feline features.

Tikki joined him a moment later in her own humanoid Mega Form, and the two shared another nod, before they vanished. "Now, Invictus." The smirking Chesnaught grinned with a look that seemed…evil? Sinister? A ghostly light flared around him, not for the first time, as he took a page from Terra, and utilized Curse with the only move that might be able to get him a win. Frenzy Plant. With blurring speed, Invictus fired off his quill cannons, and slammed the two quills in his fists, both now glowing with a ghostly Taijitu symbol, into the ground.

Once again, Plag and Tikki were forced on their back foot to defend themselves, or faint. Tikki was brutally smashed multiple times by massive surging vines that sprouted from each quill in the field, which while powerful, Invictus had purposely made to dematerialize, once the battle had ended. He was also well aware that he could not conjure anything near the size of the forest Terra had created, not yet anyway, but his vines were more than enough. Even with two scythe tails and ninja-like speed, Plagg also took a pummeling, but it was Tikki who saved them, as her brutalized body suddenly flashed with a surge of bug typed energy.

"Bug Buzz!" Marinette shouted, and Tikki immediately fired the waves of empowered green sound at Invictus. "Aerial Ace!" Adrien added, and though Invictus's vines blocked the first of the damaging bug sound waves, they'd also burned through a lot of Frenzy Plant's power as the vines caught in their path simply broke apart against the waves of empowered bug energy. Tikki followed her attack with a brutal Air Slash that hammered Invictus and made even the mighty Mega Chesnaught shudder from his quadruple weakness. Then there was Plagg, and his ridiculous speed, following up with a double Aerial Ace worthy of the Japanese Samurai who'd created the technique that Pokémon, and later the Silph Corporation, had turned into a TM. That masterful strike fainted Invictus, who was still exhausted from the Frenzy Plant, and didn't have the energy to even curl up and defend. Flying type moves were simply the bane of his power, especially Air Slash, which was a special attack move. He may have been an unstoppable burly tank, but his specialty was blocking physical attacks. Bullets, energy weapons, even most other moves, including fire, could be blocked by his Mega Form's nearly impenetrable body. Flying types were the exception to that rule.

Alex walked over, and fed a Max Revive to Invictus, who sat up with a groan, and let out a deep sigh. Alex patted the spiky boi, smirking. "You did great, bud. We're just going to have to work on resisting attacks with empowered air. Like Terra had to learn to deal with ice. It still faints him, but it doesn't make him lose focus anymore, which is useful in countering it." Mentally, he spoke to his grass starters, as Arbor also had a quadruple weakness. "We're going to try to nullify, or at the very least lessen the sheer amount of damage a quadruple weakness brings. Gelauros is going to be working with many of you, since Ice is very much the gap in our armor." He felt those with a quadruple ice weakness, namely also Kalagon, groan. "None of that. I share that weakness…and I wouldn't put you guys through anything I wouldn't do myself. Within reason, of course." He added, as he sensed his Charizard envisioning dunking his Trainer in lava to see how resistant his dragon typing really made him. Not empowered and transmuted World Forge lava either, real, genuine, molten rock. "There are limits to what even I can heal. Like severe burns. Anyways. I will endure Gelauros's training as well." Gel would, of course, be training by making his surrounding area, in an infamously sweltering and humid biome, as cold as a tundra.

They'd have to find an empty part of the jungle where the output of so much cold for presumably several weeks wouldn't irreparably damage the forest. Terra and his grass types could regrow whatever they froze, after his fire types thawed it, and the flora would probably be stronger and more abundant by the time they left. It wouldn't be the same flora, though. He disliked hurting plants, especially since befriending and speaking with several trees, but at a certain level, this was the price of training to reach even higher levels of power. If they kept increasing at their current pace, one day, finding such a spot to properly unleash their power, enough to grow from the exercise, would be a genuine problem.

As Tikki and Plagg finished powering down and celebrating with their Trainers, turning as Alex and Invictus stomped over with their stupidly large feet. Plagg stepped forward and spoke first. "Is the golden one alright?"

Alex frowned slightly but nodded. Before he could speak though, Astrum popped free of his ball, and spoke for himself. "I am whole, dark one."

Plagg nodded, and then nudged his Trainer with his tail. He brought out a sack made of fur, though it was purple, like a common Liepard. Plagg reached his paw in, and dragged a Wiki berry out on his claws, offering it to Astrum. "I apologize. I got caught up in the moment and went a bit too far. Forgive me?"

With a regal nod, Astrum levitated the berry up to his mouth, for some dignified noms. His bites were tiny, but efficient, and Alex felt him shudder in delight on his shoulder. "You are forgiven, dark one. Be sure you perfect your control, before we next meet in Battle."

Plagg gave him a dark smirk. "When next we are in Battle, we will be allies, golden one." His eyes shifted to Alex, then. "I expect your team to be properly cultured when that time comes."

Having a feeling he was once again referring to anime, Alex just nodded, and had to suppress a chuckle. He addressed both of them, then. "We three are going to Teleport, now. There is a…relatively new process for elevating Scales to what the Empire considers war readiness. A ceremony, of sorts." He held out his hands then, and the two teens noticed that, at some point beneath the Dragon Emperor's cloak, his armor had appeared again. They shared a look, but then nodded, and took Alex's hands, before vanishing with a soft bamf.

Top of the Dragonspiral Tower - Unova Region

Alex, Marinette, and Adrien appeared just as quickly as they'd vanished, and saw Connor standing nearby. Looking around, they realized they were atop the Original Dragon's home. It was like an idyllic forest had been transplanted atop the massive structure, there were grown trees full of berries, lots of seeming wild Pokémon, and of course, the titanic white scaled and black under bellied form of the dragon himself. He inclined his ice-rimmed head at the four of them, as Alex and Connor led their wide-eyed trainees to the center of the top level. Here, was the masterfully created stone pagoda that had become a common meeting spot for those who kept things running within the Dragon Empire. Not every Governor was thrilled about their ill-gotten piles of currency becoming worthless, but they also begrudgingly had to admit that feeding all of the hungry people in their States was an undeniably good thing.

As expected, restaurants and other food chains had either closed, if their quality was below a Dragon Burger's, or had remained open and relatively unchanged, as dining out was actually a luxury. The free food machines had never been intended for people who could afford to frequent restaurants, and the Original Dragon's masterful implementation of the machines, not just in the Empire but in Japan, Rio, and the other allied regions as well, had kept chaos and panic to a minimum. The markets had, again expectedly, wildly fluctuated upon their release, but now things had calmed as panic gave way to the dragon's guiding claw, and calming baritone in the right skulls.

As the four approached the pagoda, it was surrounded by if not familiar, then very famous faces. Hilbert, who seemed more serious than usual, Rosa, who still had makeup on presumably from a movie she'd been shooting, and Nate, whose eyes kept shifting to Rosa rather obviously, at least until Alex and Connor arrived. Alex gestured for the pair to enter the center of the pagoda, which now lacked the fine mahogany meeting table Tao used for more mundane gatherings. Alex started, as the two teens reached their spot. "This is the first official meeting of the High Council. Our first order is the ascension of Connor Gladstone to our ranks. All in favor?"

Rosa, Nate, Hilbert, and Alex raised their hands in unison, while for his part, Connor looked shocked, his mouth slightly open. Rosa spoke before he could, though. "Should we not wait for our future Empress?" She asked in Alex's direction.

He shook his head. "The Empress is busy. I can confirm her vote on this matter is the same as mine. Now the only question is…" He turned to his oldest friend, and strongest rival. "Will you join us?"

Connor, for the first time in a long time from Alex's perspective, seemed shocked. "I…I just became a Scale though. Surely this will be seen as nepotism?"

Alex shook his head. "Thanks to…certain prejudices from lower ranked Scales, your entry was delayed. If I had it my way, you would've been officially leading us during the war, as a General. If…or when, rather, we end up in a war again, you would take your rightful command. You're a Champion, bud. It doesn't matter that we're friends, you're as qualified as any of the other members gathered here. You've proven your skill by successfully training Adrien here, too, both in philosophy and your Martial Art style. What say you?"

Connor pondered for a moment, rightly assuming that this High Council would function much as the one in the Pokémon Wars movies had. He tried not to smirk and imagined himself in that role. Could the younger Scales benefit from his wisdom? Could he lead them in war, and in politics? "Yes." He said, both to himself, and to Alex. "I assume I'm going to be in charge of the Kalos branch of our organization?"

Alex nodded. "You have similar potential to your sister, and it's long past time you learned how to use it. With Teleport, you'll be able to give Gar a rest from zooming over an ocean full of Pokémon who know Ice Beam. You've also faced Thunder Warriors in actual combat, and you more than any of us know what they're like."

Connor sighed, heavily. "There is a universe of difference between those you negotiated with…and those I fought. The Imperator's Children are reasonable. Rational. Good at politics. The War Hounds are something else entirely. They're barely classifiable as Human, from what I saw. Creatures like that will need a release, eventually. I will be there when they inevitably target Europa."

Alex smirked and nodded. "We're on the same page. I'd like for you to start helping us bring in Paldea, Italia, Polska, and Romani to the fold as well. These Regions also have many awakening psychics, and it would be better if we trained them, before people with dark intentions do so." His main concern was Italia's crime families, and the new levels of brutality they'd be able to reach with a trained psychic that lacked morals. It wasn't that such people didn't already exist, he just knew that within a few years, there would be a lot more potential psychic criminals. He also knew Team Rocket would eventually take advantage of them as well or try to. They needed to prevent that from happening, if possible, according to Tao.

Connor nodded in agreement, and then took his place in one of the pagoda's remaining openings. "Is this like the…?" He asked Alex, and Alex nodded, before speaking in a more authoritative and serious tone aimed towards the two teenagers.

"Adrien Agreste. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. You have proven your skills in Battle and with a plasma sword. You stood together, unafraid, when all of Europa was bathed in Shadow. You struck at its source and vanquished the darkness. You defend those without power with the power you have been given and have demonstrated beyond the shadow of doubt that you are worthy of it. Kneel." He said the final word, as he strode towards them, and ignited Lux. Marinette looked concerned, but Adrien, who had enough 'cultural training' to recognize what Alex was basing this on, did as instructed without hesitation. Upon seeing Lux wink at her, Marinette copied her boyfriend, and lowered her head.

It wasn't Alex who spoke next, but he did gently tap their shoulders, which Lux kept from being damaging, while Tao's thunderous baritone echoed in their heads.

"By the right of the Council. By the will of the Dragon. Rise, as defenders of the Empire."

Alex stowed Lux with a flourish, and stepped back, as the two fresh Scales rose before them. Tao continued, and it seemed like his body was constantly rotating around the topmost level of the tower as he spoke. "You are charged with the defense of Europa, and her people. Until you are free to patrol the other Regions of Europa, you will be based in Kalos. Your Trainer Cards have been upgraded to certify you to raise as many Pokémon as you desire, and you are free to travel in all air spaces shared by the Empire's allies. You are also free to train apprentices of your own, with a Council member's approval." Then, the dragon ceased moving, his head aligned behind where Alex was standing. The pupilless golden eyes flared with power, and the dragon finished the ceremony with a smirk. "Well done."

The Council members clapped, and then broke, with the ceremony now finished. Nate and Rosa went off for a stroll, while Alex, Connor, Marinette, and Adrien met again. Marinette spoke first. "I'm not…super sure about my sword skills, honestly. I'm better with Tikki's weapons."

Alex smirked. "We never stop learning, Pada- er, Marinette. Adrien can polish your skills in that regard, and as far as Plagg's request goes, Adrien," The teen audibly sighed and facepalmed, which made Connor smirk as well, "You'll have to do what I did and bond a Rotom to an electric-based crystal and shove it into a hilt. Only a possessed sword can take the shape he wants you to have. It's a great idea, though."

Adrien just nodded, still facepalming and sighed again. He raised his head, then. "I'll…keep that in mind, I guess."

As Adrien began explaining to Connor and Marinette just what Plagg wanted, Hilbert came up to Alex. "We need to speak, Dragon Emperor." Alex nodded, and the two Champions walked on the other side of the tower's garden, from Nate and Rosa. They were in silent agreement to let those two have a much-needed date.

Once they were alone, Hilbert started. "The Successor managed to successfully infiltrate the Dragonspiral Tower. He was here under a flawless disguise, for several weeks. His goal appears to have been corrupting Padawans to his rhetoric, but it seems that those he was in contact with were not swayed. We'll be keeping an eye on them anyway. Before he left, I Battled him. I wanted to stop and detain him, but Tao claimed that would have been pointless, for some bloody reason."

Just then, Tao's massive head joined them, rising over the part of the tower they stood upon. "I said your efforts would not change our Path."

"But you still just let him walk out of here? Without so much as an alarm?" Alex asked, somewhat incredulous.

Tao sighed, bathing them in Leaf scented smoke from his large draconic nostrils. "If we attacked him here, in the Capital, he would have used his powers, and likely gotten greedy enough to try forcibly kidnapping either innocent citizens, or some of our Padawans. My Future Sight foresaw this. The Successor takes advantage of such situations, always. Letting him go was the safest Path, and you were too far away and too busy to Teleport over and confront him, Alex." Tao's eyes pulsed with power, as he sensed his Champions still did not understand his actions or reasoning. "There will be a time and a place to confront the Successor. Our scientists must first learn to trap him, by disrupting Hoopa's portals. This will also keep him from randomly summoning Legendary Pokémon to aid him in said confrontation, which is another reason I did not provoke him. You and Arthur must both use your Spacium Beams, in conjunction, when he draws upon the majority of his power, and is properly trapped by our forces. That is how we slay him. Permanently. Trust my judgment, my Champions. This is the Way. Do what you have been doing, and when the time comes to face him, we will be ready."

Alex and Hilbert shared a look, as in retrospect, it did make sense not to attack a man with an unbound Hoopa in the middle of the capital. "Did you at least learn anything when you faced him?" Alex asked Hilbert.

Hilbert shrugged. "Only that he is quickly learning to take full advantage of modern Pokémon training supplies and is himself a decent Trainer. He may be pure evil, but his Pokémon trusted and obeyed him as well as any of ours."

Alex sighed, thanked Hilbert for his vigilance and his efforts at reconnaissance, and then rejoined Connor, Marinette, and Adrien.

With their business settled, Alex bamfed them back to their campsite in Paldea, using Kalagon as an anchor. He released his team in a mad rainbow of light that was probably visible for miles. In the moment he'd transported them to Paldea, he'd also split a clone away to send with them, one that had all of his Pokémon with him, except for Magnus, and while it worked, it also had the unintended effect of sending his real self hurtling over the Unovan skyline, out of control.

Magnus beeped in panic and soared after him, but his body could only move so fast. Alex stopped himself with a burst of psychic power, finally, just before the Empire Building, and waved awkwardly at the crowds touring the building for a chance to see Castelia lit up at night. As Alex looked around too, waiting for Magnus, he could see why people, mostly couples, would come up here. It was the largest city on the planet, and as Alex waited, his eyes widened slightly, as his senses took in the general vibe of the human masses below, and their Pokémon. In searching for ill intent, he discovered that the people, his people, seemed…happy? Less stressed? There were still exceptions, of course. Some people, from what he sensed, were too prideful to let their government feed them, but overall, the mood was…significantly more positive than the last time he'd been in the city and listened to its mood.

When Magnus finally showed up, Alex recalled him, and then bamfed away from the tourists who'd kept photographing him the entire time he'd been waiting. Aspertia Town was closest to the Blueberry Academy, and though it was ten o'clock and anime time in Paldea, in Unova, it was still four in the afternoon. Plenty of time to visit the Terarium, for the remaining targets on his roster. First and foremost, was a Beldum, as he knew they had a large colony somewhere in the icy part of the undersea bio-dome, but anyone else he ran into on his way to that part of the Terarium was also fair game. He didn't intend to have more than sixty battlers though, as in six teams of ten, at least for this tournament. There was always the chance some would prefer not to battle by the next World Tournament, too. Others, like his Garbodor and the Eeveelutions weren't counted for his battle roster, as they preferred to enjoy existing and doing as they pleased, with minimal amounts of combat.

When he arrived by Skarmory Taxi, he saw a pink haired female figure walking slowly towards him down the unnecessarily long walkway into the academy itself. Alex chatted with the cab driver, Kevin, who was mighty proud of his Skarmory. "They're fast, sturdy, and have a rather impressive Move pool. You can find them nesting in bramble bushes in the Terarium."

Alex nodded, indulging the man. Skarmory's speed was, at most, average, but it was defense heavy, flight capable, and versatile, if trained properly. He also liked the idea of making a spare sword from a shed wing feather. "I'll have to keep an eye out for one. Thanks for the ride, Kevin." The man nodded, seeing his liaison arriving, and the pair of armor birds took off again, as he got another request for transport.

Alex recognized the woman coming to greet him, as she was rather famous in Unova. The youngest Director of a major University in Unovan history, and the daughter of a Gym Leader to boot. The former Director, Cyrano, had insisted he could think of no one more suited to take over his academy, and Director Lacey did not disappoint him. Her main contributions to the school had been adding more high-level classes, and like Paldea's academy, taking in students of any age who wanted to advance in those fields. The Trainer courses were still, by far, the most popular but there were quite a few future scientists as well.

Up close, Alex realized just how fine Clay's daughter actually was. He wasn't smitten or anything, but he could appreciate beauty when he saw it. She'd clearly taken the time to look that good or had one of her Pokémon do it for her, and he had a feeling an imminent visit from the region's leader might have played a part in that. Although, for all he knew, she looked this good every day when going about her duties. He gave her the same handshake he'd given her father though, as they exchanged greetings, and then she went straight to business.

"We appreciate your visit, Dragon Emperor. There are a few things I'd like to take care of before I give you free reign of the Terarium, however." She began, as they started the ridiculously long walk to the academy's entrance. "Firstly…we've been having more and more students manifesting…strange abilities, lately. And they're almost always our Trainers. We've been sending them to the Dragonspiral Tower so far, but their parents are pressuring me to keep them in a school environment, at least until they decide if they want to become Scales. Thus, I wanted to offer a compromise, as I understand the danger that comes with not training them. Champion Hilbert or Rosa could come here to teach them, or someone else you trust with the task if they're too busy, and their first task would be to train someone who could eventually take over their duties and stay on as part of our teaching staff here permanently. In time, I'd also like to develop courses for the various abilities we've been seeing. As you're probably aware, they're not just limited to Psychic Typed abilities."

Alex nodded, until the woman finally paused for his answer. "I could just train you, Director. You have the potential as well; I can sense it."

She looked surprised, blinked several times, but otherwise her face remained controlled, her smile never so much as shifting from her mouth. "I see. That would expedite the process…and you would be alright with me training additional teachers?"

Alex nodded. "Tao and I are very much on board with working closer with the Academy, and the other schools across the States. Our only caveat would be that you take in potential students from all across the Empire, and if you need help accommodating them, we will gladly provide it. You have an ideal setup here for creating strong, competent Trainers and Tao wants as many of those as possible. If you're in agreement, I will have you train under Champion Rosa. I think you two have met already, and I'm sure she could learn a lot from a Trainer as skilled as you. When she deems you fit, you would then be cleared to train more Scales to act as teachers. Judging by your team's skill level, you probably wouldn't take too long to train."

The academy's Director paused in her walking and turned to face him. "I would like that very much, Emperor Redwood."

Alex chuckled, as she formally bowed. "You can just call me Alex. I'll let Rosa know she has a new Padawan, and I'll leave scheduling training sessions to the two of you. Is there anything else you needed from me, Director?"

"Lacey is fine, if we're going to be informal. I did…actually have a bit of a…strange request. It's my Excadrill, you see…ahh, I'll just let him explain it. You can understand him, after all." She called out her starter then, and Alex could tell that while he appeared strong and steely at first glance, there was an inner and far more feminine radiance to him that he seemed comfortable with. His fur was purposely styled to be crazy, like an anime protagonist's hair, but oddly enough it worked with his spikes to make him by far one of the most visually stimulating Excadrill that Alex had encountered.

Alex gave him his standard 'Hello there', and the Excadrill began speaking in a haughty, but confident voice as his sharp eyes looked Alex over. "Hey hey hey. I'm Kamina. Hmmm. You're the real deal, aren'tcha. Listen, Dragonman, I have a little brother who needs some…Human encouragement, to reach his full potential, you dig?"

Alex slowly raised an eyebrow. "Your little brother? I guess I can help a familial relation, sure. What does he need, exactly?"

Kamina shook his steel horned head. "Nah fam, he's not a blood relative, but he might as well be. He's just a Drilbur I care about! My little bro! Believe me, he's got some serious power, but he needs a seriously powerful Human to, y'know, draw it outta him. Someone in tune with the Earth, and on par with a Champion. Lacey isn't quite there yet, and she doesn't want another Drilbur. He's down in the Terarium. His name is Simon (See-moan). He'll be the one with his head down, mindlessly digging away."

Alex smirked. "My guy, that's what every Drilbur does. I'm going to need more than that if you want me to find him."

Kamina shook his head again, vehemently. "Nah man, the way Simon digs is different. Y'know what? Just meet me down there! In the Canyon Biome! You can see for yourself!" The powerful Excadrill flew away then using Drill Run to spin through the air, despite it being a ground type move. Alex watched, admittedly intrigued. If Kamina could fly by getting creative with Drill Run, in this case spinning so fast he floated, he could only imagine what this Simon could do.

Lacey watched him go with a frown. "I hope his request isn't too much. From what I can understand, he wants you to train his little Drilbur friend to his level, so they can…Drill Run into the sky together? Or something? He was hard to understand when he explained it, he was Very passionate about it though. Anyways. I suppose I'll leave you to it. The students have been instructed not to bother you, but ahh…El Primero was hoping to speak with you, if you have time. He's in the Coastal Biome. You'll see him when you get there." She gave him a smile then, that seemed more genuine. "Please enjoy the Terarium, and feel free to visit as you please from now on."

Alex thanked her again, stowed his cape, and made his way down into the Terarium once the student at the desk confirmed his Trainer Card was legitimate, and asked for an autograph. As he took in the savannah before him, he also looked upwards, and gasped. To his eyes, the Terarium Core was a roiling mass of powerful energy. It seemed like Infinity Energy, but there was…more to it. Another kind of power that had been mixed in with the literally limitless potential of typed energy. He sensed two sources of that energy, one of which was a Pokémon. Terapagos, if he had to guess. The Legendary turtle had been discovered after his granduncle's efforts had shifted from researching legends to making kooky inventions spawned by his Leaf smoking sessions. Highdeas, he'd called them. Thus, his notes had lacked much information on the Terastal phenomenon, though there had been an interesting book with a fairy tale that seemed to incorporate what humanity today called Terastallization. The book had a cryptic note in the back of it too, now that he recalled it. Another note with a single word. Rakua. And the other one-word note had mentioned the Legend he now flew towards on his Charizard. The fact that there was a Terapagos sized hole in his granduncle's research was also strange, as he'd evidently been to Area Zero, and had seemed to think Terapagos had a greater tie to Arceus. As Alex spied its shell in the distance, he could understand why.

As he and Blaze approached the beach of the Coastal Biome, they saw the Legend, basking comfortably in the light of the Core. Alex saw one eye open and look at them, as they approached. Then, he noticed the human beside it. El Primero, if he had to guess. With a glance, Alex knew that Florian had trained this Terapagos thoroughly. Like Tao, he was at the peak of power that a Pokémon could reach, and it showed. He was living his best life, gleaming in the tropical light of the biome, and the Terarium Core.

There were students around, of course, as they tended to gather whenever Florian stayed in one place long enough, but thanks to his Legendary ride, he could easily escape them, and had often done so. He'd made it clear to his fans that he reserved the right to zoom away once he decided what his next target to catch or train was. Today though, he was just relaxing with Terapagos, as the Legendary Pokémon had informed him they would be having a fateful encounter today. Blaze landed with a small burst of flame not far from them, and then happily stretched his wings in the sun, and let out an empowered Flamethrower for good measure. He glanced at his Trainer, who looked back at him and nodded as he disembarked, and the Charizard shot into the air once more, probably to go and find somewhere to bask. Florian had one of his own, and it seemed the Victory Champion's was at or above their level. He resisted the urge to ask for a battle, for now. Nemona had taught him the importance of savoring an epic battle, and there was no greater stage than the World Tournament.

Alex and Florian walked towards each other, and shook hands, as they came close enough. After they exchanged greetings, El Primero started the conversation. "Terapagos has been eager to meet you. From what I can tell, he has a request for you, and for the Original Dragon."

Alex raised a brow, and the titanic furry turtle floated over to them. Alex inclined his head politely, and the Terapagos did the same. As Alex heard its mental voice, it didn't thunder like Tao's or other Legends, it almost seemed…sparkly? Somehow? There was only a faint male tinge to it as well, and Alex had a feeling if it wanted to change genders, it probably could. Like most Legendary Pokémon.

"It has been eons since my power filled this land." Alex blinked, as the massive turtle shared rapidly flashing images of the past. A much different looking Unova, with crystal formations that seemed very similar to Tera Dens. "It was sealed. By your more foolish predecessors." Another image, this time of thousands of ancient Pokémon Trainers commanding Sigilyph, Bronzong, and Claydol. They were surrounding a massive crater in the Earth that reminded him of Area Zero, albeit much smaller, it had the same strange mist he'd seen while in Paldea's skies. A man in black and white robes guided their efforts, and raised a massive mountain where there was once a crater, heedless of the massive environmental upheaval they were causing as a result. He flinched, as he saw many base form Terapagos with blue-white crystalline shells caught in the eruption of earth, as a new mountain was forcibly created through psychic means.

He felt the sadness from Terapagos as well. They had perished, then. Not for the first time, he cursed the method humans had for passing on political power. The antics of the previous Dragon Emperors popped up more and more the longer he was one. The image faded, and Alex met the ancient turtle's gaze as it continued speaking. "The power of my species grows, the less of us there are. I am…one of two. The only two left. Florian has helped me recover much of my strength…and now, I will again seed it across the world. Help me, Dragon Emperor."

Alex reached out to Tao, for his opinion. "Terastal power will open many pathways to our goal. It enhances your machinery and makes the Dreams of sentients a reality. It is a boon, by every measure."

Alex nodded again, mostly to himself. Then, he met Terapagos' eyes evenly. "Help make Tao's dreams a reality, and you may tap into your ancient source of power." He looked at Florian as well. "Have Paldea ally officially with the rest of the allied Regions. It will make accessing their land to spread your power more…palatable." He finished, thinking of Zigma.

Florian and Terapagos shared a look, and then Florian spoke. "I'll see what I can do. This alliance will take time to solidify, but once it does, we will require your aid directly, Dragon Emperor. Terapagos has foreseen it. Only your authority will ultimately allow us to spread Terastal Energy to Unova, and beyond."

Alex nodded again. "Then when the time comes, you shall have my authority to do whatever you need to do, so long as no people or Pokémon are harmed in the process."

With that settled, Alex then asked Florian how one might find a white Beldum in the Terarium, and he responded by giving Alex a sandwich recipe, and directing him to a specific part of the Polar Biome. Thanking him again, Alex summoned Blaze from his nap, and they began flying across the Terarium once again, at the same speed as the other Trainers around them. Thanks to his size, Blaze got looks as they flew, and it seemed Hydreigon, not Charizard, was the most popular mount in the academy. He'd thought they were simply too ferocious to train en masse, but it seemed their resident Dragon Master had found the trick to training the Deino line. Instructor Drayton was, reportedly, a prodigy with dragon types, but had never had the drive to do more than teach the next generation about battling, which was apparently the only thing that could fire him up. Despite that, Alex recalled him declining the post at Opeleucid's Gym multiple times, before Nate simply stepped in, to Drayden's disappointment. He found Nate qualified, but he also thought the Champion had more important things to do with his time. Drayton, by comparison, did not have important things to do, as most of his time was spent relaxing, apparently.

As they arrived in the Canyon Biome, Alex didn't have to look long to find where the Drilbur line liked to hang. The walls were similar to an Aron nest, and indeed, he spied several Aron living in harmony on the ores that Drilbur's digging brought up. One Drilbur in particular was digging rapidly, tossing up ore like he had a nose for it to the hungry Aron and Lairon around the nest, and the Drilbur responsible finally surfaced near Kamina, whose fur made him stand out. He wasn't the only Excadrill around, but he was the one that was oozing the most charisma. He waved Alex and Blaze down, as he saw them.

"Yo! Dragonman! And friend!" Kamina called out, eyeing Blaze. The Charizard seemed a bit fidgety around so many rock types, but they seemed more interested in their ore than the fire type in their midst. "This here is Simon! My brother! Say hi, bro!"

Alex walked up to the Drilbur, and noted that he was small because of his lack of level. For a Pokémon that low level, he had sure mastered Dig like a much stronger Drilbur. Kamina was correct, his little brother had potential. The Drilbur shyly greeted the human, and Alex just smirked at him. "Hello there. Your brother asked me to train you. I admit I was skeptical, but I agree with him. You do have potential."

"I told you!" Kamina shouted excitedly. "Believe in the you that I believe in! You're more than worthy Simon!"

The little Drilbur sighed. "I still don't know what that means…"

Alex chimed in then. "He's talking about the ideal you that he believes you can be. Thus, if you believe in the you that he believes in, you'll also be believing in your best potential self. Does that help?"

Kamina ran his dangerously sharp claws together in excitement. "Oh man, he really is a wise Dragonman! Simon! He totally gets it! I knew this was a good idea!"

Simon was still frowning as he tried to follow his brother's train of thought. "Believe…in the me that…ohhh Arceus, my head hurts."

Alex and Kamina shared a look, and then laughed, loudly. "It's alright, Simon." Alex said, smirking. "You'll understand eventually. Now then. I only take on Pokémon who are comfortable with Battling, and who want to be the best. As in, the best in the entire world. With my help, I think you could get there, but it's not going to be easy. It'll hurt. It will take time, effort, and every day will test the limits of your endurance. What do you say?"

Kamina was shuddering with excitement, but Simon looked deflated. "The best in the entire world…?" He'd barely been out of his egg when he'd been let loose in the Terarium. His first day here, he'd found a patch of nutritious mineral-rich dirt to munch on by himself, and Kamina, who also happened to eat at that one, had shown up as he always did, and rather quickly befriended him, taking him on as a pupil, or at least trying to, anyway. At certain disparities in strength, sparring together did more harm than good. In terms of level, Kamina was in his upper nineties, while Simon was still single digits. Thus, the clever Excadrill had sought out a human. Only the best, for his little bro.

"O-on one condition." The tiny mole declared, facing Alex with steel in his eyes that hadn't been there earlier. "Take my friends with me."

Alex stroked his beard slowly, before he said, "Who are your friends?"

"A Noibat, a Timburr, a Machop, and a Larvitar. They train together all the time. If I'm going to become the best, I want them by my side."

Alex nodded. "We'll speak to them, then. If they want to come along, they're more than welcome." He was a bit apprehensive about the Larvitar, only because he'd promised one of his earliest mentors that he'd train one of his offspring eventually. As it turned out, he ended up keeping that promise. One by one they met Simon's friends. The Noibat was eager for evolution, and Alex dubbed him Dracala, or 'dragon wing' also sometimes translated as 'winged dragon'. The fact that it was so similar to a certain famous vampire and being somewhat familiar with what their Mega Form looked like, was a total coincidence. Kel and Champ were previously owned, until their Trainer had washed out early from the Blueberry Academy Trainer courses and left them in the Terarium. They both eagerly jumped at the chance to attain their final forms, with a competent human's aid.

Lastly was the Larvitar, who as it turned out was with his father when Alex and the group of first stage Pokémon arrived in their territory. It seemed that after it was discovered that Alex had released 'his' Tyranitar back to the wilds, the local rangers had wrangled him into a temporary ball and moved him to the Terarium, where he'd proceeded to thrive in peace, undisturbed by the humans who'd been developing his mountain home. Most companies managed to mine these days without completely ruining the environment around them, but having a Tyranitar around was simply untenable, when every mining charge would send it into a costly rampage. Alex made good on his word and named the eager young Larvitar Tyranus. He seemed proud of how fierce the name sounded.

With five new faces, and Magnus, he made his way to the Polar Biome, and cooked up the sandwich Florian had given him. As it turned out, the weird gray sparkly herbs he'd acquired from his Tera Den were the key to this strange but effective method of drawing out elusive Pokémon. Even Terapagos had sagely nodded, claiming that sandwiches made with the 'mystic herbs' had strange and wonderful powers. Sure enough, after washing and feeding his gathered team, a swarm of Beldum and some Metang filled the snow-covered slopes of the isolated cliffside area, below which they seemed to have their nest.

Since Beldum's claws were actually absurdly valuable in terms of Replication Machines, Alex gathered hundreds of them while Magnus trained the power of his Flash Cannon on steel types. For whatever reason, the mystical sandwich powers only lasted about half an hour, and he was fifteen minutes into his when from the corner of his eye, he finally saw his prize. He hurled Magnus's ball at the white Beldum, picking it out of the crowd easily, and after a Thunder Wave and a few weaker Flash Cannons, it went into the Luxury Ball that Alex was using on it.

He set up their camp again, letting everyone out, as they greeted their new member. The Beldum was largely unreadable as it's red eye scanned over each of them, before finishing with Alex. He joined their psychic network on his own initiative, and greeted them, and though his emotions were comparatively dull, he could see the Beldum growing more and more twitchy, as he sensed just how many powerful Pokémon were on his new team.

Once he was integrated, the eye focused both physically and psychically on his new Trainer. Alex was finding the more metallic cries some Pokémon made were harder to translate, but he made out the Beldum's intent. It was imagining a small blue candy in a wrapper, and Alex slowly pulled out one of the Rare Candies he had on him. It was, essentially, classifiable as Exp candy as well, it just guaranteed exactly one level, and that's when Alex realized it wanted to evolve. He offered it to the Beldum, and it let out a cry that rang through the area. Another white Beldum, the only other in the Terarium for the moment, appeared at the first's call, and they both bit into the candy simultaneously, as they, to Alex's perspective, purposefully used the burst of Infinity Energy to fuse their brains together, and become exponentially smarter.

"At laaaaast…" Their voice rang out much more clearly to Alex's ears. They addressed him with psychic speech then, after taking about eight seconds to learn Common. "We- I had visions when I rested as a Beldum. Strong Future Sights that have given me insight to our destiny…we are, apparently, going to bear the entire world on our shoulders, as a Metagross, and beyond, and it seems you…Alexander Redwood…are the one who will get us there."

Alex smirked, and gently pet the steely white Metang. "Well with a premonition like that, only one name will do. I dub thee Atlas."

The Metang closed their eyes, and they glowed with intense blue aura, before they said, "Yes. Atlas. Quite fitting! We like it. Hopefully, the other two will be in agreement as well. We will become Atlas."

Alex's brows furrowed, slightly, as he had a thought. "To become a Metagross…you'd need two more Beldum, or a Metang like yourself, wouldn't you. The other blue Beldum here are too different to work, I assume?"

The psychic sentient steel platform with rather impressive arms hummed an affirmative. "Our composition is akin to what you humans call Platinum. The other Beldum here were formed from lesser metals. In time, years, more like us will appear." The metallic creature stared into his Trainer's core, then. "I do not wish to wait years, Human."

Alex found Atlas's spot then, under his chin, presumably where the two brains linked. Their eyes turned happy as he scratched there forcefully enough for the steel type to feel it. "Nor will you have to. Steven Stone might be able to help us. He has a Metagross like you. A much older one."

Atlas was thrilled at the idea of meeting such a presumably wise member of its species, and after Alex set up a Pokénet connection to his ball like he had for Lux, Nox, and Psi, he recalled Atlas. With his goal achieved, just as night came to the Unova Region, Alex bamfed them all back to his true self in Paldea, and after a wake and bake at five in the AM, introduced them to the team.

They also had another unexpected addition, as somehow Magnus had attracted a Grubbin to latch onto his steely body when nobody had noticed. Too sleepy to bamf him back, and upon seeing his modest nature, Alex kept the small bug, and dubbed him Gauss. By his count, he was three away from his soft limit of sixty, and he wanted those slots open in case he found anything in Selva Muerta worth taming.

The night was spent as it usually was, with copious amounts of Leaf, anime, and friends. They were getting towards the end of Shippuden now and had to skip massive filler arcs that the ancient writers had decided to shove in the middle of several epic battles. Alex was just glad he had the option to skip. In ye olden days, apparently, people had to wait for new episodes. Through the aforementioned filler. In the morning, their group of five entered Alfornada Cavern, and thanks mostly to Kalagon, the local Garchomp left them alone. Apparently when he'd eventually entered the cavern out of curiosity, he'd made several 'friendly' rivals, and the locals had come to appreciate his strength. So long as they avoided catching a Gible, they wouldn't be targeted.

Alex and Aria had the easiest time ascending, as he could fly, and she had a very friendly Jellicent. If she spent too long atop her amorphous head, she'd eventually slide off, but for short climbs, like the many they took through the cavern, it worked well. Adrien and Marinette had taken the longer route, with less cliffs, and more Pokémon nests, but by the sounds of things, they were hard at work training their teams.

Isamu had the most trouble, since his shiny light green colored Tangrowth was unruly, and when it did lift him, it was more like a throw. The Tangrowth begrudgingly followed after him every time though, though he had angry eyes the whole time. Alex eventually floated over next to him. "Having some trouble, bud?" The Tangrowth's angry eyes shifted to Alex, and from what he could tell, the creature regarded him as a threat.

Isamu chuckled as he wiped his scraped, bloody nose, and said, "Oh…that's just Kuromuchi…he's always like that." Alex raised an eyebrow, and Isamu elaborated, "I uhh…inherited his ball. He's still understandably upset about having a new Trainer. Apparently, he was supposed to return to where he was captured after his Trainer died, but I'm not strong enough to go there yet. He holds it against me. It's my fault for being so weak."

Alex's face shifted to a frown. He floated down to the Tangrowth then. "Hello there. Isamu explained part of your situation. Might I ask where it is you were caught, exactly?"

The vines that comprised the Tangrowth wriggled in a manner that Alex assumed conveyed anger. His voice was a deep, angry gurgle. "I was stolen from my home. I do not know your Human terms for it."

Alex tried giving him a genuine smile, and Isamu was taking notes, very obviously fascinated. "I'd like to help you, Kuromuchi, if you'll let me."

The Tangrowth angrily shook and gurgled again. "I despise that name. It embodies my slavery. Call me Kuro, if you Must."

Alex nodded. "Kuro, then. Imagine your home for me, if you can. I'll see it in your mind."

Within the sentient vine pile's mind, a massive, vibrant green forest cycled through in images. It looked like a generic forest to him.

Alex sighed softly and muttered, "Hoboy." Before he spoke louder, "Lux. Bring up a slideshow of the most forested areas in the world. The Central Imperium Republic, Selva Muerta, anywhere with a forest. Hopefully that will help our new friend here recognize his home." In short order, Lux had a slideshow of images rolling, and that at least seemed to alleviate his bad mood.

Alex floated back up to Isamu, and psychically caught him as he slipped, and his handholds broke off. "Thanks for the save." Isamu said, chuckling awkwardly.

"No problem." Alex said, guessing he was worried about what Kuromuchi had told him. "That Tangrowth of yours…who exactly did you inherit him from?"

They walked as they talked, and in the distance, Aria was handily whooping a Dragon Tamer with her Jellicent, and Ice Beam. Somehow, the ghostly jellyfish had formed Night Shades cohesive enough to also use moves, and Alex felt Nox watching quietly with interest from his shadow. Nox didn't often battle himself, but like Alex, who had started the habit by copying Leon, he learned from every battle he watched, stole their techniques, and made them his own. Night Shade was weak in terms of power, even at a high level and with a type advantage, but if they could use moves, that made them akin to a ghostly Double Team.

After a moment, Isamu answered Alex's question. "He was a Pokémon Tamer from the Dark Times. He helped establish the Pokémon Leagues, with the help of the First Champion, and his Rhydon, or so I was told. He uhh…was part of an elite team of Tamers whose Pokémon lived on after their deaths. He's hundreds, if not thousands of years old." Isamu exposited.

Alex just sighed, deeply. "So, the forest he's looking for probably doesn't even exist anymore. In the time of the First Champion…we'd barely built any cities. Nature reclaimed much." Isamu nodded in sad agreement, and subtly exhaled, as he'd kept his secret safe and his oaths intact. Then suddenly, they heard a deep gurgle from behind them, as Lux and Kuromuchi had apparently found familiar flora. The Tangrowth effortlessly, and rapidly, pulled himself over to Alex and Isamu.

"Selva Muerta." Lux said, smirking in the possessed phone/Pokédex. "I win, Nox." Isamu gasped in shock, as the hand of a Gengar rose from Alex's shadow with a large, ripe looking Wiki berry. Alex caught his information device as Lux returned to his hilt and enjoyed his victorious noms.

"Selva Muerta…" Alex repeated. "Yea, if Kuromuchi doesn't listen to you and the strongest you have is that Riolu…erm…Kanchi, then you're nowhere near ready. Even with your Zygarde Cores…well, maybe if you kept them on continuously. Without them, the local Pokémon would eat you alive."

Isamu chuckled awkwardly again. "That form does have a time limit, though it can vary…the Cores also have to find it necessary to keep together. You're right, I'm just not ready…"

Alex nodded. "If you went alone, or with Aria, you'd be right. You aren't." By this point, Aria, Marinette, and Adrien had exited the cavern, and Alex turned to Isamu, as Kalagon came over and asked to rest in his comfortable ball. "You said you wanted to join the Scales, right Isamu? You seemed interested at least, last time."

He nodded. "I wanted to…but then I realized I'm just…not good enough yet to join Champion Tier Trainers in actual combat situations. My…mentor…from back home suggested I enroll in Paldea's Naranuva Academy. It's made Kanchi quite strong, and I've learned a lot. Aced all my courses. My teachers say there hasn't been a new student with my GPA since El Primero joined."

Alex nodded sagely again. "But book learning will only get you so far. You need real experience to properly train your team. I'm going to train in Selva Muerta soon, and knowing Naranuva Academy, they'd send you off to another Region eventually anyway. I have an open spot for an aspiring Padawan, and it's yours, if you want it."

Isamu's eyes went wide. Infamously, Champion Trainers rarely if ever trained others. Chairman Leon of Galar had done so more than most other Champions, even before he retired and that essentially became his job. The reason they didn't train others, was because of exactly what had happened to Leon. He gave his successor a strong starter, and within the year Victor had risen to Leon's level, and beyond. His Urshifu had made him unbeatable, but the rest of his team was no joke either, and he'd only trained up even more Pokémon since.

Thus, a Champion offering to train him blew Isamu's mind a little bit, especially the Victory Champion of the hardest League in the world's most populated region. The only other Champion of Alex's caliber he'd heard of training others was Ash, who would famously battle almost anyone, if they could find him, and Cynthia, who had trained Kohki once he'd beaten her and become worthy of the title of Sinnoh Champion. "I accept!" He shouted, louder than he meant to, and that made Alex smirk.

"Good. We'll train both my team and yours in Selva Muerta, and we'll depart once I have enough pieces for my Ceruledge's armor. Someone in a place like Rio should know how to forge it, and while I look that up, you can challenge Rio's Gyms. Maybe add to that team, a bit." It was at that point that Alex noticed he did in fact have ten Pokéballs, but he'd bring that up later. He had noticed Isamu was reluctant to mention something, regarding his Pokémon, but Alex didn't intend to force it out of him. He was honest to a fault, so there was likely a good reason he hadn't brought them out or mentioned what was inside them.

Isamu accepted his challenge, and it was at the cave's exit, with Alfornada Town glowing in the distant darkness of the night, that their group split up. Aria didn't want the pressure of Alex at another of her Gym Battles, and she wanted the crowd focused on her, not him or his admittedly awesome Gallade. It was her Jellicent's chance to shine, and Marina had been looking forward to smashing through Tulip's team since they'd briefly met her in Mesagoza. She'd noted offhandedly that Marina was small, and since she had a bit of a size complex, the insult had stuck in her mind. She was not small. She was fun-sized.

Adrien and Marinette were also going to Alfornada, mostly to shower and eat a proper meal before heading for their next Paldean vista. Alex and Isamu meanwhile, searched together for elusive Polteageists, and eventually, found a nice flat plain full of the small, hard to see Pokémon. It was Nox's turn to get some training in, though he seemed more annoyed that he had to do it. His Night Shades easily smashed every single one they encountered, but once possessed, their cups and teapots became as special as their contents and would regrow by the time the Pokémon recovered and stopped hiding in its instinctually miniaturized form.

Alex was quiet, as the Polteageists reminded him far too much of Kashiji. Someday, when the Swords of Justice had recovered enough, he would tell them about the Light that they had extinguished while under Morgana's domination. Once they had more than enough shards, Alex put a hand on Isamu, and Teleported them to Rio. Cross-continent Teleports took a lot more energy and were generally considered 'bumpier'. Isamu looked slightly nauseous, but his stomach quickly settled as his eyes went wide. Once again, thanks to time zones, it was still daylight hours in Rio, the mid to late afternoon actually, and the colorful city astounded both new arrivals.

For Alex, it was much different from what he remembered. The buildings had been repaired all around the palace, and pretty far down the continent's coastline, as far as he could tell. The music was different from the last time he'd been here, though he was distracted from it, by Isamu's growling stomach. Alex smirked at his newest Padawan. "Dragon Burgers?"

Isamu tilted his head, and then nodded. "A few of those would hit the spot, actually."

Alex's smirk widened slightly. "Good. First lesson, Padawan. I know you've trained with the Mind Sage, so use your powers to find the nearest Replicator Rotom." Isamu nodded, not put off by the somewhat mundane task, but rather eager to easily meet and surpass it, and demonstrate his skills.

It was simple enough to find a bunch of dopamine filled minds surrounding a ball of ghostly energy. Isamu led them to one rather quickly, and Alex's somewhat iconic robe drew stares from the people. The areas around the food replicators had quickly gained a nickname among those who fully supported ending world hunger, and appreciated good tasting food that was also healthy and harmless to the environment. The term, across the western allied regions anyway, was Dragon Pits, and typically, they were just a large gathering of low-quality chairs plopped unceremoniously around the Replicator Rotom. Some struck a balance of being out of the way, but visible and free to use, while others routinely blocked roads and infuriated local police, who had to constantly move them after every mealtime.

"So, what else do you have on your belt?" Alex asked as he double fisted two Dragon Burgers. They weren't drowning in grease or condiments, which was a nice change from the burgers he usually had. Canis and Arthur popped out as well, and got some for themselves, which caused a stir around the dragon pit. Apparently, people hadn't realized their Pokémon could have free food too.

Alex shifted on the poorly made pool chair he'd taken since it was one of the few that was free as Isamu answered him. "A Klinklang, Hitmonlee, and a Torkoal. The rest are Cores."

It took Alex longer than it should have to do the math, but eventually he said, quietly but excitedly, "You found all five!?"

Isamu nodded, and finished one of his burgers before he said, "We should probably talk about this somewhere more private. But yes, I have them all, now. Using them all together is another matter entirely, though…"

Alex nodded slowly, as he pondered. "Well, we can work on that while we're here. They probably cooperate together better without a Human, but bonding with each of them should help you with using them."

Isamu sighed. "I've been trying, but it's not like I can just feed them sandwiches. They absorb the Sun's light; they have no interest in eating together."

Alex lightly patted Isamu's shoulder. "We'll figure out a way." He looked up then as two guards in the same serpent helmed scaled cerulean armor they'd worn when he'd last been here approached them. The two finished their burgers, and Alex recalled Canis and Arthur, who had been getting Dragon Burgers for whoever wanted one, and transferring them into their Pokéballs. "Hello there." Alex said, as the guards stopped before them.

A murmur went through the crowd as they spoke. "Emperor Redwood. Queen Iara and the Tamer of Zigma wish to speak with you in the palace."

Alex was tempted to say he had things to do, as this sounded like an optional meeting, but then, if anyone would know about turning Sinistea shards into armor, it was Rio's ruler. At the very least, he expected she'd be able to point him towards someone who did.

Isamu, meanwhile, seemed to be panicking slightly. As they walked behind the guards, two more flanked them from behind, and it soon became clear as to why. Cheers erupted from a rather large crowd of people in what seemed like one of if not the largest city centers in Rio. Alex gave them a wave as they walked, and the cheers grew louder. Apparently, all but ending hunger made one immensely popular with the masses.

Eventually, they made it through the city center, at which point Alex turned, smirked, and Shouted at them, "Enjoy your burgers!" This prompted more wild cheering, and Alex chuckled. The good mood in Rio today was infectious. For his part, Isamu had stayed quiet, and occasionally looked at his new teacher with genuine awe. He'd claimed, multiple times now to the many fans who approached them, that he wasn't actually responsible for the replicators. He'd really just greenlit the project and helped train the army of Rotom needed to operate them. The scientists deserved the credit, but Isamu, and Alex's fans, knew better. Ninety nine percent of other people would've monetized an infinite food generator into an infinite money generator as well. It took a special kind of person to ignore their greed, and feed most of the world. For free. The teen's eyes narrowed slightly. It was almost like Alex didn't fully comprehend what he'd done. Humility was good, but this was ending world hunger. It was a big deal. Barring a disaster, every subsequent generation of human would go without ever needing to feel hunger again. Obviously, some probably would, but the majority of the species now had their basic needs met.

Eventually they reached the palace, at which an even larger crowd was crowded around the gates. Once again cheering erupted and quickly became deafening. Alex didn't remember seeing so many people the last time he'd been in the city. Almost as an afterthought, Alex said, "Ahh. Nearly forgot. Aevum! Why don't you join us?"

Isamu's eyes went wide as he processed Alex's words through the cheering, and then saw his Latios appear. "You almost forgot you have a Latios!?"

The cheerful blue psychic dragon jet circled and flipped around Isamu. "Greetings, newest Padawan. I am Aevum." He inclined his head for pats, and Isamu very gently stroked his short, fine feathers. Aevum floated behind them as they made their way to Iara's throne room. The water was now significantly lessened, replaced by a heavy darkness that covered the entire chamber. Iara smiled as she saw them and stood up from her throne. "Emperor Re-, err, Alex." She corrected, remembering what he preferred. "Thank you for coming. I know how busy you must be with the World Tournament's finale drawing closer."

Alex bowed, low, closed fist to open palm, and Isamu followed his lead. "Queen Iara. Always good to see you. And you as well, Zigma. Nelinha." He said, standing, and staring directly into the darkness behind the throne. Isamu tensed, and started to sweat as he felt what he could only describe as imminent death. His spine was tingling, his body was sweating more and more, and he fidgeted in the presence of the Guardian of the Dark Continent.

Zigma purred, as the darkness receded, and its effects went with it. Her glowing red eyes melting out of the darkness had unnerved Isamu, but it was what Alex had come to expect from Tao's counterpart. "Drrrragon Emperorrr. You have fed my people, for no price. You have sent your…Earthbenders…your Scales, to rebuild our ruined city. My home flourrrishes…by your will."

She lowered her head by Iara, and Nelinha hopped off, her expression unreadable, hidden behind a smirk similar to Alex's. "Tell the Dragon. We agree to his terms of a more lasting Alliance. Our lands shall once more be bound in friendship and trust, as it was in the ancient era." Her massive lips pulled up into a feline smirk. "You have…imprrrressed me."

"You've impressed all of us." Nelinha chimed in. "I hope we meet at the World Tournament. I want to know just where my team and I stand compared to you."

Alex tried not to nerd out, as he realized he was, much like Red and N and Leon before him, a bar by which powerful Trainers now measured their strength. And how far they had yet to go. "I'd look forward to that as well, Nelinha. It would be a Battle to remember, for sure." The intense blue eyes shifted back to the Queen, then. "Did you require me for something specific, Iara? A problem with a Replicator, maybe?"

She shook her head and her wavy blue locks shifted like waves as she did. "Not particularly, no. I simply wished to impress upon you what your gifts to my people mean to us. Whatever you need while you stay here, we are happy to provide."

"Well…there are a few things I could use aid with. First and foremost, I believe my new friend here would like to speak to Eo, if he's around. And the little one, too, probably." Alex gestured as he spoke, and Aevum appeared from where he'd been invisibly skulking, genuinely shocking not just Iara, but also Zigma, with what he saw as recognition. He was starting to wonder just how much Aevum had gotten around, in ye olden days. And who exactly he had been.

"It has been ages…it is good you have awakened, Aevum. The Successor has returned." The shadows parted around Zigma's form, and Alex's eyes narrowed. He'd been told Mew had helped Zigma recover from her encounter, but her body was still raggedly thin.

Aevum flew forward, concerned. "Alex mentioned that…once…vaguely…much has happened as we've traveled. Ahh, I see…this Shadow corruption…it yet lingers. Forgive me for this, Zigma." Aevum shone brightly then, and Alex's eyes widened, as he tapped into the realm of Light Energy. Since he was also a psychic, it did make some sense that, if he opened his own bodily energy network, he could also channel it, like Arthur did. Golden aura radiated off of him, and his feathers seemed changed in color as well, as he used a true Luster Purge.

Zigma was severely damaged by the attack, but the corruption lingering in her body like a festering disease was burned away in the Light of the Alpha. Aevum bestowed Life Dew on her then, and the Light faded, as the still rather young dragon became slumpy, his flight pattern wobbling. It was at that moment, that Eo arrived. He spoke only to Iara, and mentally, before carrying Aevum off to recover. Iara spoke then to Alex. "Aevum will rest here for a few days, if that is alright with you. He spent a lot of power, power his new form wasn't ready for…but that's just who he is. It's not the first time he's gone too far for a Guardian. It won't be the last, I'm sure. Do you know of his importance to the Latis?"

"I do not." Alex said, but then he held up his palm with the strange silvery mark. "He did give me this when he hatched, though. When I channel my power through it, my moves become exponentially stronger."

"In that case, I will let him divulge his species secrets when he is ready to do so. I would advise speaking to him about the Successor. Now…what else do you require? It seems we are even more indebted to you."

Alex shook his head. "Let's forgo the concept of debts. I would've ordered him to Purge and heal Zigma myself if he hadn't done so immediately. There need not be a cost between allies. I only hope you and yours aid the Empire if we're ever in dire straits in return. Now then, I need armor for my Ceruledge, and uh…the helmet has to be very specific, for mine, for uh…reasons. Also…" He called out Noir, who yawned, and had been napping. His eyes widened, as he took in the enormous throne room, and Zigma behind it. The thin Guardian was already looking healthier by the second, though it would take time to recover what the Shadow had eaten away. "I was told that my friend here can attain a…divergent evolution, in Selva Muerta. I wish to know how."

"A simple pair of requests, easily filled." Iara said with a smile. "We have many who are capable of forging Ghost Type Pokémon materials into useful items, usually weapons, but we do have several armor specialists throughout Rio as well."

Alex nodded. "I need the nerdiest armor specialist you have." He said, completely seriously, as he struggled not to smirk.

Iara chuckled though, seeing through him. "The…nerdiest? You'll want Ribeiro. Antonio Ribeiro. He's a perfectionist, and an artist, but his skills are legitimate, and have been honed by his family for…ages. He's the best smith in this part of Rio."

Alex nodded, satisfied with that information, and then said, "And my friend here?"

Noir had padded towards Zigma in awe, and she seemed quite amused by the foreign-born son of the jungle. Iara eyed him for a moment, and then sighed. "Muertan Meowscarada…are very rare. And extremely deadly. Masterful night hunters, their leaves help them blend in perfectly with the jungle. There is arguably no other Pokémon that blends in as well as they do. They eat Humans, too. However, because they're so strong, Sprigatito and Floragato are often targeted while they're young, so they don't end up evolving. As for how…" Iara closed her eyes, and then shrugged. "You'd have to ask Professor Cashapona. He would be the one most likely to know."

Alex nodded, and kept Noir out beside him, as Zigma seemed to be communicating something to him. "I'll be back for Aevum before I return home." He informed the queen. She nodded gracefully, wished him well, and then he and Isamu were off again. He could sense Isamu was glad he hadn't been noticed, but Alex didn't pry.

Once they were outside, he and Isamu walked and talked once the cheers grew quieter. "Stuff like that happens to you a lot, huh?" Isamu asked. "Just randomly being invited to talk by royalty and Legends?"

Alex pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Once I became Champion, the amazement faded pretty quickly. Being around Tao so much and see him rebuilding his ancient home blew my mind, but pretty quickly it just became work, as I recall." He purposefully left out what he and Jess had been doing while others had focused far more on the rebuilding effort.

Isamu stopped suddenly then, and Alex slowed to a stop as well, raising an eyebrow. "I hope…I hope you understand how big of a deal ending world hunger is."

"Well, it's not the whole world yet, and it's not just me-"

Isamu cut him off. "I know, I heard you telling people. It's the scientists, but you need to understand, every other world leader, both today and across our history, would've monetized these machines. You pushed them through the red tape and the greed before corporations even knew Replicators existed. And it is the whole world now. The Imperium accepted your Replicators yesterday." Alex and Noir stared quietly, as this was clearly something Isamu had wanted to say all day. "You just guaranteed free food for the entire Human race. For as long as those Rotom last. Which is basically forever. I don't think you fully understand just how big this is…only the Holder of Arceus did things like this…and he had the power of the Creation Trio to help him!"

Alex and Noir shared a look. Then, still quiet, Alex said, "You're comparing me to the man who befriended and tamed a God?"

Isamu chuckled. "No, well, not yet anyway. I might once I see you in actual combat. But other people have started drawing comparisons. It's been all over Chatter."

Alex frowned slightly at the mention of the waste of time and effort that was Chatter. It had only grown worse since Elmo Musk took over. "I don't really care for social media. It emboldens too many wastes of DNA."

Isamu raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought most famous Trainers talked to their fans on Chatter, or at least a Glaicebook group."

Alex made a face, and hid his guilt at successfully avoiding the main method fans had for interfacing with their favorite Trainers. "I usually let Lux handle all that. I used to let Nox do it, but…he kept mercilessly trolling people."

"You should interact more on there. Your fans would like it, I think." Isamu suggested.

Alex shrugged. "I might…if I ever get a minute. Right now, I have almost sixty Pokémon to train, so. Social media doesn't take priority."

They made their way out of the city, and activated their aura shields as they walked to the short but still inhabited route to the Cashapona lab. It reminded Alex of the Coumarine Gym, mostly because it had been grown in and around a large tree. The Professor looked almost the same as he had when Nelinha had ascended as Rio's newest Champion and Tamer. Almost immediately he started admiring Noir.

"Such a fine coat…" He gushed, poking it gently. Noir's eyes narrowed, and his fur turned as sharp as needles. "Ohho! And sharp." The Professor smirked at Alex. "Let me guess, he doesn't like his Special Attacks, and he prefers using his vine to grow thorns and whip enemies until they faint."

Alex and Noir quickly shared a glance, before looking back at the aged Professor. He had wrinkled bronze skin and a slowly decaying posture, but the gleam of intelligence was still very much alive in his green eyes. "He and I agreed that would be a bit…much…for a Battle. Unless the opponent he's facing is a Lairon or something, which can take that sort of punishment and still be fine."

The Professor raised a gray eyebrow. "And you trust him not to strangle his opponents to death? He doesn't lose himself to viciousness?"

Alex shook his head. "He initially had urges to, right after evolving and learning to use his new Moves like this, but I've trained him to be better than that. The fact that he's well fed also helped."

The Professor scribbled down some rapid notes on some paper on his cluttered desk, and then stood. "Well then Mr. Redwood, it seems you and young Noir are exactly the kind of pair that can achieve his alternate evolution, and master it enough to be used in Battle. Our last Champion had one as well, and he was quite ferocious." The old man's eyes gleamed. "I'm sure you'll use Noir to his full potential. To unlock it, you must journey to the abode of the Rain Sage. Within his area of influence is an ancient Grassy Rock, the kind Eevee evolves into Leafeon with, but this one is special. It radiates Dark Typed Energy as well…actually, being a psychic, you may want to send Noir in alone. It's powerful, and potentially damaging or corroding to those with a natural weakness to darkness. From what the last Champion told me, his Meowscarada did not rampage when it evolved, though he was very moody for a while, apparently some local Gatonip set him straight real quick."

Noir's tail swished eagerly at the mention of the plant, which was actually genetically related to Leaf, and had a unique effect on feline Pokémon. Alex nodded, promising to get him a steady supply of it, now that he realized just how much Noir seemed to enjoy it. Despite not being dark typed yet, he had a tendency to be aloof and a loner, a lot like Ictus. Alex had caught Noir and the large Drapion having many a conversation in the darkness of the spots in which they camped. Nox also sometimes appeared, but the Korian Gengar seemed to dislike being away from his Trainer's shadow for too long.

Alex thanked the Professor for the information, offered him decent seats in Unova's newest World Tournament stadium when he subtly asked for them, and then Isamu had a choice to make. The Professor gave out Torchic, Sprigatito, and Floatzel as potential starters. Despite them both being dark typed, Rio's Meowscarada were very capable of Playing Rough, and an Amazonian Floatzel was a force of nature unto itself. According to the Professor, not even the wild Meowscarada actively hunted the local Floatzel. Their groups had a bad tendency to hold grudges, and they were not above eating another species' eggs. It wasn't a common practice in the Pokémon world, and it was almost entirely something only dark types, like Mandibuzz, ever did, but even in a world with a surplus of berries, some Pokémon preferred the taste of eggs, as a leftover from the old Earth species Mew had copied and improved upon.

Alex's goal for Isamu was pretty simple: have him create a second team, and travel across Rio with them, while he trained. His first team was half Zygarde Cores, and while he would still feed and try to bond with them, Alex insisted he needed a team of his own that could battle and listen to him. Apparently the Klinklang, Hitmonlee, and Torkoal filling out his belt alongside Kuromuchi and Kanchi were all also shiny, inherited from ancient Trainers mysteriously connected to the first Pokémon Leagues, and didn't have a high opinion of Isamu. The one exception to this was his Riolu, who had apparently been so powerful as a Lucario in the ways of aura, that he'd been able to reincarnate as an egg when his body finally gave in to entropy. Even steel types died eventually, but the former Aura Guardian saw promise in Isamu that the others claimed he did not have. Kanchi had told Alex that he was positive they'd come around eventually, they always did, and Alex had a feeling that would be when Isamu proved he was worthy of battling alongside them after beating some gyms. They had established a psychic link, and Alex invited the ravenously curious youth to ask him whatever questions he wanted, any time but the four hours in which he slept. Judging by the eagerness in his eyes, Isamu would probably keep him busy with questions for quite some time, before he ran out of steam.

In the end, Isamu had chosen Torchic, as having a powerful fiery fighter in a land full of grass types was, to him, a no brainer. He was also a huge fan of Blaziken Mask, and he liked the idea of a Pokémon who could, someday, keep up with him when he used all five Zygarde Cores in sync. He dubbed the spiky tufted Torchic Dynamight, after Alex suggested giving him a name, and the eager little boychick had affirmed that he wanted one. With the Padawan on his way to grinding levels and bonding with Pokémon who, from what Alex had heard from them, were sick and tired of being passed down from human to human, he made his own way into Selva Muerta, atop Shruikan this time. Only one Noivern had the cojones to test Shruikan's obvious might, and a masterful booming Thunder sent it hurtling down towards the forest floor as it reflexively shrank. Thankfully, when they were that small and dense, very little could hurt a Pokémon. Even a hundred plus foot drop.

Alex found a relatively isolated spot with fewer Pokémon minds, and those who didn't outright attack them, he was able to ask to move elsewhere, at least for a few weeks. Once he explained what a week was to them, they agreed to stay away until his frost exuding Aurorus was no longer in the area. Those who attacked, were simply driven off when they realized just how outclassed they were, and that the unfamiliar cold temperatures weren't going to just go away. The entire area Alex cordoned off was about four point two zero miles, which while rather large, was a blip compared to the size of the rainforest. Very quickly Gelauros had tired in the tropical climate, and Alex had a clone on standby with Ethers and Elixirs from his bag to keep his power consistently going. Just the act of constantly forcing the temperature to change was very good training, and it made their encircled area a lot more bearable in terms of temperature. A weak psychic barrier followed the earthbended circle, to keep out irritating and disease carrying insects that had not become Pokémon. It also hid them from an aerial view, though the frozen vegetation was a bit of a giveaway that an ice type that did not belong was inhabiting this part of the rainforest.

Once their spot was set up, Alex eagerly released his fifty plus members. "Well boys…we're finally here. It feels like it took ages, but we made it. This is the final stretch." He paced before them as he spoke, but his Words reached them all. "From this point on, our goal is Victory. We will face the opponents in the qualifying matches, Semifinals, and Finals without prejudice or favor. The only bar I will measure with is strength, and your chances of winning. We'll be facing the strongest Trainers on the planet. Not all of you will see action in this tournament, but there will be others. And other Battles besides. I will do my best as your Trainer not to neglect a single one of you. Now then…the assignments."

He stopped in front of Terra, who was, of course, in the center of his team. Many of the newer members were chilling on his shell, but listening attentively. "Those of you who have reached your final evolutions, will begin working on truly mastering the Moves I've taught you with Unova's reusable TMs. It's one thing to know a Move well enough for Battle, it's another entirely to make it your own, and improve upon it. And that, is the name of the game boys. Not only will we overwhelm our opponents with our numbers, we will make full use of each and every single one of your Move pools. Once that is achieved, you will begin working on custom Moves. For the A Team, this is your primary focus, in between helping the newbies. Terra already showed you how it's done, with Curse and Frenzy Plant. I'm sure the rest of you can match him." His main ten nodded, confidently grunting in unison.

The rest of you will, for now, focus on traversing the jungle with your clone of me, and gaining Battle experience. You need to protect the clone at all costs. If something makes it break, you could end up alone out here with your ball lost. I could probably find each of you with our mental link, but that will take time, and if something that can break one of my copies is attacking you, time will not be something you have. If it does break, try to stick to the area, and defend your Pokéball. Shruikan and I will move quickly to recover you, and it, and make sure it doesn't happen again. Some of you may end up in groups, since defending me may not be your forte."

"Revan, Noir, and all the newbs from BBA will be with me, as I evolve them, and train them up against Rio's Trainers. For some reason, you guys are registering at a more than high enough level to evolve already…so once we sort out your Moves, that will be our goal. Arthur, since you're as ready as you're going to be, I want you overseeing their training. If a new custom Move idea hits you, you and I can go over it when the others are resting." The Gallade nodded resolutely, and smirked. Alex could tell he was excited. The best way to get new ideas for custom moves was to see how other species used moves, and adapt them. Since he was a master of type energy manipulation by this point, Arthur was eager to learn. In his head, he saw a kind of rainbow punch outline involving using every type, all together, all at once. With his Stellar Tera Typing, that would probably be devastatingly powerful while Terastallized.

Alex clapped his absurdly large hands together, and the sharp sound made his partner's ears twitch as it echoed loudly through the area. "That's all for now, lads. Get to it and try not to damage the landscape too much." He split himself into a multitude of clones then and began pairing off with his team. Some of them wanted to battle one of their brothers immediately, while others were eager to test the ferocity of the world's most dangerous jungle at night. Alex had studied the general levels of the Pokémon here, what little records Rio had on them, and there were quite a few routes that stretched from Rio and well into the forest, despite them being mostly overgrown and filled with mortal peril that would do nicely for training. He'd also dipped into his rarely used bank account to give everyone who needed one a Lucky Egg. Thanks to the Replicators also being capable of item creation, making them was ease itself, apparently. Normal and fairy energy condensed into an egg shape that would greatly enhance the amount of Exp gained from their battles in the jungle.

Getting nearly half a hundred of them had left a dent in his supply of currency, but making more was as simple as calling his merchandise liaison, or sending a clone to PokéStar Studios. They paid ridiculous amounts of currency for famous cameos, and he'd already done a few, as well as made a series of poses that the Victory League's unofficial merchandise master had slapped onto shirts, shoes, backpacks, hats, anything that could be cheaply made and sold at a reasonable rate.

Finally, Alex prime split off a final clone, the one who would take Noir and Revan to evolve and train up the newbies once he did so. He levitated, sitting cross legged in the air, as he and Terra and the others weak to ice sat near Gelauros, and shivered. Even as the sun faded, the humidity stayed in the air for Gelauros to fight. After sitting around and shivering got boring, Alex set up his dex to project some anime, and together, they struggled to endure the cold as they watched the conclusion of the Fourth Great Ninja War.