The Contender's Ascent

by Insane Dominator

Third installment to "The Fairy Contender". Months passed since Nic and Erza finally united, but now things get really interesting. New challenges face Nic as Pokemon begin to rise, more complex foes challenge him and his powers, and something darker than darkness itself seeks Nic. With friends new and old joining forces, Nic and two worlds unite in ways unimaginable. OCxErza

56. A Very Awkward Mother's Day

Daybreak was drawing closer by the minute, which was seen at the top of the large, eloquent balcony that overlooked the entire complex that was still sound asleep. The few lights that were moving through the streets were the mages that were on night patrol, using their light lacrima at the ends of staffs to make them easier to carry.

To see everything in their rightful place, that was what one should wake up to. What was imperative was knowing your role and fulfilling it dutifully. The man himself was doing just that, his role in overseeing everyone fulfilling their tasks. If anyone questioned, it would be his job to correct their misjudgment.

Sensing a magic signature, he remained unmoved as a watchman appeared from a magic seal behind the Grand Captain. "Grand Captain, sir. A blessed morning to you." He dutifully greeted with a bow.

The Grand Captain's closed eyes didn't falter from the view of society far below. "Hmmm, yes. What might the matter be this time?"

"I have come with a message from Captain Verdade." The messenger reached out his hand, his palm facing up. He concentrated Magic Power to create a magic seal for a Requip, in which the enclosed envelope was sitting unblemished by even the tiniest speck of dust.

The Grand Captain hummed as he looked over his shoulder, watching as the magic seal floated across the air towards him. When it was close enough, he reached for the letter and opened it. As he started reading the letter, his eyes notably opened to reveal their aged wrinkles. Despite how early it was, what he saw shook any sense of sleep from his mind.

As he read the letter, his expression remained unchanged, yet the air around him made it clear to the messenger still awaiting his dismissal that the letter was anything but good news. The Grand Captain stared with eyes that would have frozen a wild animal in their tracks. He took everything in from what Shiin spoke of regarding the task. And now, he had come face-to-face with the man that was supposedly responsible for this ordeal.

"Hmm..." He soon veered away from the note, moving onto the chip that was sent with the message inside containing the information that was described. He closed the envelope back up, choosing to keep the hand-written message inside of his robe. "Very well then, have this sent to the Magic Research & Development department for further decoding at once."

The magic seal moved across the air, carrying the envelope back towards the messenger. "Yes, sir! At once!"

"Also, one more thing. Notify the Vice-Captain of the Heaven's Eye Division that their Captain has met engagement with their priorities."

"Yes, right away!" The messenger kneeled and bowed his head, right before he vanished through another teleportation seal.

Sensing no active magic in the vicinity, the Grand Captain faced the rising sun with his eyes retaining their serious gleam. "So, it would seem that Verdade has finally made contact with Nic Pularis. Honestly, I was expecting this to have happened sooner, but..." His wrinkled hands gripped his magic staff tighter. "Now that he has shown himself, we can confirm one thing: His ideals have not changed. Whatever actions you make now, Nic Pularis, know this. You can never escape the divine judgment that this land upholds. Those who have responsibility, must see that they follow through with it. And those who do not..." His head lifted in parallel to the first rays of the morning dawn. "...they shall learn their place. Your words and actions, they can never hope to justify the laws of nature that you refuse to follow. Be warned, one can never escape the sun's light...for that light bears the truth."

---

North of the massive imperial base, a few miles ahead was a large complex that had three stories. The exterior showed that the structure was made of refined, smooth marble that didn't have a single scratch on it. On the front at the top of the large building, there was a massive emblem engraved into the marble that looked like an eye, as well as an iris and sclera. Around said iris keeping it in place were spokes, similar to eyelashes. Whatever space wasn't occupied by the marble for the iris was filled with shimmering glass.

Behind this visual of the outside world, inside was a different story. Behind the eye was a large room, with glossy, white, porcelain tiling that had a long, black carpet woven from the closed double doors to a large, circular center in front of a refined, wooden desk with cabinets loaded with sealed documents neatly filed and organized.

Truly, the place itself had that eloquent charm.

"ZZZZZZZZzzzzzZZZZZZZ...ZZZZZzzzzZZZZZZ..."

...unlike its apparent occupant. Strewn across the desk were some papers that seemed out of place, and some of the ink appeared smudged in some areas. The one responsible for this uncouth sight was currently slouched in a leather chair, her head reeled back as she snored.

The woman in question, despite how unsound her impression was, had a remarkably voluptuous frame that was contained within her silver robe. She had light skin with long, wavy, peach-colored hair with bangs that framed it, as did the one that slanted on the right-hand side of the bridge of her nose. She wore a green amulet that was attached to the chocker, which was attached to the thin, silver cape with a dark gray underside. On her left hand were two magical rings that were gold and green. She had white boots that were covered by her long mage robe.

"ZZZZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZZzzzz..."

Deep snoring ran through the office walls, but didn't seem to escape the closed double doors. A loud knock was heard from the other side. "Vice-Captain Starlock, permission to enter." A muffled voiced declared. When he didn't get an answer, he knocked again. "Vice-Captain...?"

"ZZZZZZZzzzzz...gnnngh-!" The sounds of knocking were enough to arouse the woman from her audacious slumber. She snorted as she perked up in her seat, opening her beautiful teal eyes and full lips. "W-w-what, what-?!"

Another knock immediately seized her attention. "Vice-Captain, are you present? Permission to enter?"

The woman blinked in confusion. Her eyes fell upon the strewn papers across the desk and flinched. She couldn't be seen like this! "J-Just a minute!" She answered, before quickly shifting documents of information around, making them into neatly folded stacks that sat adjacent from her. She had no idea which papers were which; she would have to sort that out later. Right now was a matter of appearance.

She cleared her throat as she threw her head back, allowing her slightly messy hair to return to its wavy, charming form. "Alright, come in!"

After such a long wait, the doors finally opened, allowing the messenger to walk in. He followed the carpet towards the center ring it took up, quickly getting to a knee and bowing his head. "Good morning, Vice-Captain Sheela Starlock. I have come with news made by the Grand Captain himself to you personally."

"The Grand Captain?" Even she was taken back by such news. If it was by him of all people, it had to be something important. She straightened herself and clasped her hands on the desk, giving the messenger a serious look. "Very well then, what's the situation?"

"Your Captain, Shiin Verdade, has finally engaged with Nic Pularis in Fiore. The Grand Captain personally asked me to tell you this, and be on standby for any further orders given. You are to proceed with decoding the information he transmits, and relay it to the archives. Those are his orders."

Sheela unenthusiastically stared at the messenger. She was woken up...for this? It would be understandable if it were something like a health issue regarding their Captain, but it wasn't like she was sitting on her hands the entire time either. What did the Grand Captain think their department did other than categorize information?

But rather than blow a fuse, she nodded in understanding. "I see. Thank you for the update. We will continue with the information as needed. Is that all?"

"Yes, ma'am." The messenger mage lifted himself from his knee and turned around. Sheela watched him walk down the carpet until the double doors closed behind him. Once he was gone, she slumped forward with a heavy sigh.

"Guess business as usual, huh." She mulled to herself. Her head rolled towards the large glass wall with the marble iris looking into the sunrise. Another day had come once again. She would have rather had continued her peaceful nap, but alas society doesn't progress on the sleeping. Either contribute, or be cast aside. She dismissed her lackluster attitude and stretched her arms overhead.

"Well, guess since I'm up, might as well get back to it." She looked down at the two stacks of papers beside her. She adverted towards the one on her right first, seeing that it was a dossier with a printed picture of Natsu Dragneel on the cover. "Geez, this little guy is that destructive?" Her eyes widened at the pages upon pages of reports given about the property damages his past jobs entailed. "Shouldn't there be a world record for this much damage? If so, he'd definitely make it."

She continued sorting out the information, having large clips to hold the names and biographies of various people. More accurately, people that were relevant to the file that she was organizing. They were all mage identification papers, with details ranging from their height, to their weight, magic type, Magic Power readings, hobbies, etc. One file that was a few pages long had Lucy Heartfilia's information on it. The next one was Happy. Followed by Gray Fullbuster, Erza Pularis, and so on. The dossier was so large that it was no wonder why the files were organized into two.

"Talk about a handful..." Sheela mused to herself, looking over Sophie Lednick's dossier. "Oh, she's got a pretty face. And at such a young age, too!" She sat the dossier aside to look at Joey Haycliff's information. "And this guy likes to party and dance..." She moved onto Dereece. "And he's simply this guy's handyman..." She turned towards Vanessa's page. "And she likes to...sleep in?" She tightened a fist before banging the desk. Her entire body shuddered with overwhelming jealousy. "She's so damn lucky. And while she's snoozing away until 9 in the morning, we're up this early right at work! At this rate, I'm going to start showing wrinkles..."

A knock came at the door. "Vice-Captain. Reporting for duty, ma'am."

Sheela dismissed herself from her cosmetic despair and put on a straight face. "Yes, enter."

The doors opened once more, revealing a very young woman, younger than her even. She looked to be in her late teens, with light skin and a petite frame. She had very short, brown hair that was cut above her shoulders with a bob-cut right across her bangs. She had large, owl-like glasses that made her brown eyes look bigger than most people. Like Sheela, she had on a silver mage robe. She hastily scuffled towards the center flooring before dutifully bowing. "G-good morning to you, Vice-Captain!" She quipped.

"Good morning to you too, Waverly. Punctual as always, I see." Sheela greeted her subordinate. "I must say, you're here earlier than expected."

Waverly flinched. "Oh, m-my apologies! If it's inconvenient, I can dismiss myself until-"

Sheela put a hand up, immediately silencing the young woman. "Just stop. There's no need to feel so worked up. It's fine, really. I know you're still new, so it's perfectly alright to feel uneased at first. Let me guess, the new job jitters?"

Waverly grew visibly flustered, putting her index fingers together. "I-I mean, I...guess?" She swallowed a lump, worried what Sheela would have to say. Instead, the older woman chuckled.

"I see. It's always charming to find people like you that have so much energy around here."

"Um, thank you very much, Vice-Captain." Waverly tried to push through the matter. "So, um, is the morning briefing going to commence soon?"

"The morning briefing..." Her thoughts were a little slow up until this point, but then it felt like a train rushed and struck her straight in the brain. She groaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh, right, that briefing...yeah, it'll be done soon. Why don't you resume your post until then?"

Waverly straightened up and raised her chin high. "Yes, Vice-Captain!" She turned and started for the corridor, but stopped midway to look back. "Oh, and um, Vice-Captain..."

Sheela raised a brow. "What is it? You still think you need to shadow Grisley? He's already informed me that you've passed the basic understandings after your first week."

"No, it's not that. It's just that...well..." Her face flushed red with embarrassment. "You, um...your makeup is a little smudged."

Sheela blinked. She reached for the cabinet beside her and pulled out a handheld mirror. She held it up to her face, where her eyes widened at her eyeliner smeared up her eyelids a little, and parts of her lashes were crooked. If the newest member was embarrassed enough, Sheela's shocked expression beat her by leaps and bounds.

"O-Oh, right...thank you, Waverly." She quipped.

Waverly cutely giggled. "It's no trouble. But it's not good to wear so much makeup, Vice-Captain. Hope you take better care." She turned and left the chamber, in which the double doors closed behind her.

Sheela immediately stood up, sighing heavily as she walked away from the desk. 'Right, this is what I get for being so fulfilling. I just hope Shiin's mission doesn't take much longer. If my lack of a beauty sleep doesn't kill me, this paperwork most certainly will.'

---

The land was shaking violently, making it neigh impossible for anyone to sit still. Smoke was blooming out of the top of the volcano that blackened the skies, making any flyers take the risk of blindness.

The longer the eruption went on, the harder it was to tolerate. Fellow Magcargo and Magmar were inside the lava, but even its tides were becoming too unstable for them to stay in. They safely crawled out, their slime trails and claws respectively melting rock. They took cover in nearby caves and pits until the eruption would soon ceasefire.

Black smoke filled the skies as even more land was beginning to grow unsteady around them. Even the nearby sea in which the volcano sat upon was shaking as the earthquake caused much of the marine life and Pokémon swimming to make a break for it. If that wasn't motivation enough, the molten lava rock shooting down would have done the trick.

Amongst the many residence of this impending disaster, a Volcarona looked towards the sky, witnessing the falling rocks flying overhead. "Hurry now, we have to move while we still can!" He shouted. A lava rock fell dangerously close to his crater nest, making his wings flare up.

The female Volcarona occupying the crater shielded the half-dozen eggs that were surrounded by a loose gravel border. "But what about our young?! What about our family?!" She fretted.

"Are we seriously having this conversation now?!" The male Volcarona turned and saw a lava rock beaming straight for them. He spread his wings, unleashing winds with silver glimmers in them that blasted the lava rock to pieces, showering down around them. "This is not the ideal environment for our young! We need to get them and ourselves to a new place to stay!"

"Alright." The female Volcarona was disheartened, but she knew the safety of their future rested in the hands of their soon-to-be offspring. They needed to guarantee their future, no matter what the cost. "Where do we go then?"

"We'll worry about that when the time comes!" The male shouted. The ground shook violently, causing parts of the loose gravel around the nest to cave in. He was quick to maneuver and catch the one egg in his tiny claws before it could tumble to splattered bits.

"Hurry! Grab the young and let's fly!" Both Volcarona didn't have time to second guess, not while they were in danger themselves. They hovered around their nest, hauling whatever eggs could fit into their claws. Once each had three each in their grasps, they fanned their wings.

BOOM!

The ground violently shuddered as the volcano exploded with a seismic ash wake exploding from the peak. Their compound vision saw the oncoming tsunami of black ash that was leveling everything in its path.

"To the air! Now!"

Without a moment to spare, they flapped their wings and flew skywards. Just in time too before the pyroclastic flow flooded the land that included their nest. The mother didn't have time to cry while she was flying for her life, not while she had young that she still had to protect. With the ground quickly getting leveled by millions of tons of ash, the air was shaking violently from the sheer magnitude of the volcano they were trying to escape from. So much so that it was almost impossible for them to maintain a steady course towards the ocean.

"Look out!" The male turned around, cradling the eggs against his fur as his wings were drawn back. "Whirlwind!" He flapped his wings, summoning a large wind that blew away the falling volcanic pellets. The strong winds were enough to dissipate some of the smoke that they were flying through as well, allowing his mate a narrow but clear view of the seawater below.

They continued flying, with the volcano erupting large flows of ash that filled the air and land alike. The ash that fell into the ocean was quick to blacken the sea's once blue hue in a matter of seconds. Debris from the land such as bark and foliage ended up amongst the waves. The waves got so bad that it became a storm. The Volcarona were making haste...when one stray volcanic pelt drew too close to the female.

"Fire Spin!"

A stream of spiraling flames blasted from the male's mouth, hitting the pelt before it could strike her back. An explosion expelled from the point of impact, causing broken pellets to sear into her white fur. "Gngh!" She flinched harshly at the pain, enough to make her not realize that the momentary buffer allowed a single egg to drop. Unfortunately for them, they were too preoccupied flying for their lives.

"Keep flying!" The male Volcarona urged, taking the lead away from the volcanic disaster.

As they disappeared from sight with their eggs in tow, the runaway egg fell from the sky towards the stormy ocean waves below. But when it looked like it was going to splatter in the swaying tides, a high enough wave with a large piece of bark on top caught the egg. The large wave traveled back down towards the vast sea, in which the makeshift raft the egg had for itself had fanned out further towards the vast open waters.

Far behind, the land blossomed with a beautiful view of the fires of molten lava running down the mountainside.

---

Arceus knew how long it's been. It could have been hours, maybe days. Yet somehow, the egg had made itself comfortable on the bark that made for its life preserver, literally. If the ocean waves didn't kill it, its colder temperatures would have given it a slow, cool end. Thankfully, what lied beyond black ashy skies was a sunny-filled land of open water, with adventure in every direction.

What could possibly go wrong?

The repetition of waves was oddly soothing once it got easy enough to get used to. It was like a giant cradle keeping it sound asleep inside its incubation...that is, until the raft's smooth sailing came to a sudden halt by something large gradually rising from down below. It was as blue as the ocean, but as large as a boat from the briny depths.

It was a Wailord, and it had come time to breach for air before making its huge venture to hunt at the oceanic depths.

With a loud moan, its blowhole at the top of its head was starting to rupture. The bark keeping the egg afloat shook violently before a geyser of water exploded into the air. The joyride had taken a sudden turn towards the heavens as the float shot far up from the spout of water. The ascension was fast, and when it came to its highest peak, the water suddenly stopped, putting the egg and the bark in freefall for a few precious seconds.

In the high atmosphere overlooking the blue yonder, the egg was dislodged from its wooden perch. Just when it looked like it was about to take another lethal plunge, a Pelipper swooped out of nowhere, its huge beak wide open to catch the egg inside. The bird kept its mouth partially open as the egg was hunkered with a few twigs and sticks from the vast ocean.

The bird continued its flight path, venturing for what had to be until dark. It made its way across the sea, until its course closed in on land. A port town to be more precise. The Pelipper minded its own business as it passed over a very large sign along the piers, with a large sign that spelled "Hargeon" in a notable red font. Its course had it fly right over a small battle happening right along the pier's edge.

One of the opposing trainers swiped his arm across. "Grimer, use Mud-Slap" The mass of purple sludge in front of the young man growled before opening his gaping mouth further, expelling a stream of mud that splattered in the opposing Geodude's rocky face. The sludge smirked as he watched her try and rub out the mud while ignoring the blue aura that indicated an accuracy deduction.

"Geodude, shake it off! That hardly did any damage!" Her trainer reasoned. He pointed straight at Grimer and the trainer. "Give them a Rock Throw!"

Geodude brought her hands together, summoning a gray orb of energy that turned into a large mass of rock. She flung it into the air, completely missing Grimer by a ridiculously large margin. "Are you serious?!" the trainer exasperated.

The Rock Throw's trajectory was so far off that it drew dangerously close towards the oblivious Pelipper. The rock passed it, completely startling the poor bird. With a hefty caw, its beak jerked and pried open, causing the egg to hitch and fall out.

Once again, the egg fell through the air to what was most certainly a hard splatter to the port town's concrete...that is, until a passing carriage containing freshly sheered Mareep wool was making a course directly below it. The egg made a safe drop onto the wool, which cushioned it to where it was completely unharmed. With how soft it was, the driver in the front was completely unaware as he ushered his large purple hog towards the road heading towards Magnolia.

The ride towards the well-known city was smooth sailing. The carriage had no problems once it had found its way into Magnolia's confines. The ride, however, had met one small bump in the road – literally.

The carriage jerked just as the wheels passed over a piece of the road sticking out of the ground. The egg hitched once again, causing it to tilt off the corner of the carriage's backside. The momentum gradually built until it eventually rolled out of the ongoing vehicle onto an adjacent wooden incline into a trash can just as a wild Grimer popped his head out.

The egg bounced off his pudgy head, leaving the sludge to freeze up in the middle of stuffing himself with grime at the bottom of the trash can. "Huh? What was that?"

The egg soared skywards, making its next perch into the crook of a thick tree branch. It gradually rolled down the branch, where at the end of it lied a foliage bed that it ended up ricocheting off, directly through a partially open window that sat just below it.

The egg made a miraculously safe landing in the confines of Joey's blanket, which was soft with cotton that cushioned the fall. It laid there, whereas a still sleeping Joey turned in his sound sleep, pulling the sheets over his partially exposed body and the egg.

Not long after, a knock was heard at his door. "Captain~, wakey-wakey." The knob slowly turned, with Dereece entering while holding up a box of fresh doughnuts. "Rise and shine, it's morning."

Joey moaned in his sleep, a small smile falling upon his face. "Mmm, sure thing, Vanessa-senpai. I'd love to...be your chair for your..." He trailed off, his head turning away from Dereece.

"Oh boy." Dereece shook his head. "Guess he's having another one of those dreams again. Alright then." He walked closer to Joey, prying open the lid to reveal half a dozen doughnuts freshly baked and ready. He reached in, pulling out a chocolate doughnut – with sprinkles. He held the doughnut above Joey's face...and immediately, the fresh smell of the Captain's favorite treat opened his eyes.

"Gimme!" He snatched the doughnut clean out of Dereece's fingers, cramming the entire thing into his mouth like he hadn't seen a speck of food in days. As soon as he had awareness, he blinked and turned towards Dereece. "Hereesh?"

"Let me guess, you were having the dream where you were Vanessa's maid for a day, right?" Dereece asked, raising a skeptic brow.

"Uh..." His eyes darted left and right awkwardly. Before he answered, he promptly swallowed. "Maybe...?"

Dereece sighed with an eyeroll. "If only I had a Jewel for every time I heard that line before." He muttered to himself. He dismissed the disillusioned fantasies of his Captain and smiled. "Well, anyways, it's morning. Are we going to get ready for training in the East Forest as planned?"

"Well it's not like our Pokémon or magic are going to just magically get better by themselves." Joey replied with a dramatic twinkling of his fingers, ending with a matter-of-fact brow raised. "Even though that would be nice and all, you've gotta put just a little elbow grease in every once in a while to give it that shine."

"This is about training, not polishing a car." Dereece pointed out.

"Well, I'm sure that they'll make cars at some point. If that happens, I'm calling shotgun baby." Joey smirked.

Dereece groaned, shaking his head. He regretted ever bringing that up. "Let's just get ready for this day already."

"Yeah, yeah..." Joey reached for one end of his sheets and pulled them over. When he looked down, he froze in place with wide eyes. Between his legs was what looked like a very large egg. It was primarily white, with several sunspots scattered all over its surface. "Eh...Dereece?"

"What is it, Jo..." Dereece turned back towards Joey...only to freeze in place at the sight. He was so in shock that the box of doughnuts slipped out of his hands onto the floor. His face looked just as puzzled, if not horrified, by the sight of a large egg in his friend's bed.

The two were left stunned for a whole minute. So many things were going on inside their heads that it was almost impossible to even get words out of their mouths. Fortunately, Joey was able to grab enough sense to nervously point to the egg as he turned to Dereece.

"Um...I don't suppose this is your idea of breakfast in bed?"

"N-no..."

"Oh...then we might need a refresher on our health class notes."

---

"Waaaaaaah!"

"What's he crying about this time?!" Houndoom was less amused by the second. How was he supposed to take a nice nap with a baby cloud wailing all throughout the household? He covered his snout with his paws. "Somebody just put me in my Poke Ball already, would ya?"

"It is getting rather annoying." Scizor commented. She looked over at Cloyster, whose shell was already tightly shut to drown out as much of the crying baby cloud as possible.

The entire house had been fairly quiet for the whole morning, without so much as a single thing out of place. Yet just as soon as the loud cries of the infant reached everyone's ears, they knew it was time to get up for yet another day. Only they had wished for a less boisterous wakeup call than a baby's crying.

"Waaaaaaaah!" Junior flailed his arms above as he rolled on the large rug in the living room.

Nic came over, holding up a small pack of gummies to feed the baby. "I'm here, I'm here." He walked into the living room, with Erza in tow. The former reached into the small plastic pack, pulling out a pink, translucent gummy in the shape of a star. "You're hungry, right? Here."

Junior kept crying until he noticed the delicious-looking star that sat in between his fingers. His attitude did a complete 180 as he smiled wide while trying to reach for them. When Nic offered an orange-looking gummy, to his surprise, the baby brushed it away.

"Waaaaaaah!" He resumed crying, this time harder.

"Hey, what's the problem? You ate them just fine yesterday." Nic asked the infant, but the only answer he got was another earful of wails and puffy hands whirling around. He furrowed his brow in confusion. 'It's definitely not like taking care of Vanessa. Normally she'd always calm down regardless when I'm around.'

"Maybe it woke up too soon." Erza walked over, taking hold of the baby. She was mildly surprised at how puffy and light he was. It was like cradling a ball of cotton. "Ssssshh...it's alright now. No need to feel so worked up." She cooed softly.

The baby's crying simmered down, but only enough to where it became slight whimpers.

Erza smiled softly. "There, see? He was just tired is all-"

"WAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Her eardrums were caught completely off guard by the sudden flux in volume. The baby cried even louder than before, enough to make Erza flinch.

"What's it crying harder for now?" Charizard grunted, having one of his blue eyes dilating with growing wariness.

Erza kept the crying baby at arm's length, her head turned to get the screaming out of her ear. "I-it's alright. Just tell me what's wrong."

"Maybe it's just from looking at you. That would be enough for anyone to get the waterworks going. Heh..." Houndoom's sneer fell to an awkward silence. He immediately regretted it when Erza shot him a glare that snuffed out any flames inside of his gut. He crouched lower to the ground in a whimper. "Er...sorry."

Greninja sighed lightly. "Well clearly we can tell who isn't taking this seriously." He turned towards Staraptor. "He's your kid, right? Maybe you would know what's wrong."

"Let me think." Staraptor closed her eyes, surprisingly enough unaffected by the loud wails of the infant creature. Just what exactly did it want at this time of morning? It didn't want to eat the gummies Nic had, nor did it feel any better in the embrace of Erza. She needed to think of something, and fast.

She looked around, quickly observing for anything that could serve as a distraction. She noticed a few pillows piled suspiciously over something. She immediately figured it out. "Kecleon."

The pillows shifted about, shuffling themselves until they collapsed around thin air with a red zigzag. Gradually, Kecleon remade her appearance, her tiny hands covering her nonexistent ears. She turned towards Staraptor, tilting her head. "Hm?"

"Distract him for a short while. I need to get something." Without another word, she spread her wings and flew past everyone in a gray blur into the kitchen area.

The endless wails proliferated the household, leaving the other Pokémon unsettled and unrelaxed. Kecleon turned towards Nic and Erza, seeing the two trying – and failing – to calm the baby down. The chameleon tilted her head before an idea hatched to appease the baby. She vanished from her spot on the couch, making her reappearance behind Nic and Erza.

"You like this?" Erza tried raising the baby up and down with an uneased smile. As expected, Junior was anything but happy.

"It doesn't like these gummies, what else can it eat...?" Nic furrowed his brow as he thought of what else would be a liable option. He took notice of Kecleon appearing him and looked back. "Kecleon? What is it?"

Kecleon tilted her head. She opened her toothless maw, allowing her long, sticky tongue to slick upwards. Nic and Erza watched as they saw the extension vibrating and making wave-like motions, like a shaking worm.

"Waaaaah..." Much to everyone's surprise, the little party trick was enough of a distraction to fixate the crying cloud. His head followed the bulbous tip of the tongue as it moved in loops and twirls, keeping him in a child's trance long enough for everyone to realize he settled down.

"Did that actually stop it?" Talonflame wondered.

"Gngh, looks like it to me." Garchomp harrumphed.

"Nice thinking, Kecleon." Nic said, genuinely surprised at the turnaround she provided. He looked towards the kitchen area, his own attention drawn towards something else. "Now the question here is, what is Staraptor up to?"

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Staraptor hit the airbrakes and flapped above the flooring. She looked left and right, looking for anything sweet that Erza may have left out. She always did have a knack for leaving sweets around wherever convenient. That was something she knew well about her trainer's wife.

'Where is her cheesecake? Anything soft and sweet should do...' She looked at the counter to see if anymore of the store-bought sweets were still out. No luck. They were all eaten. But the shuffling of glass and groceries from the refrigerator grabbed her attention. She turned and saw Slurpuff, not surprisingly looking around for any sweets while her trainer was occupied.

Slurpuff was completely oblivious to the predatory bird that was watching her dig deep into the fridge. She wriggled her feet out first and pulled out a single slice of white cake with glossy pink frosting on it.

'That should do!' Without a moment's hesitation, Staraptor hatched an idea.

Slurpuff licked her lips, trying to contain her sticky saliva from leaving stains on the floor. "Come to mama~!" She opened her maw wide, moments before a gust of wind brushed her face. She dove face-first into the plate...only to be met with porcelain. "Heh?" She blinked several times, seeing that instead of a huge slice of cake, there was only a few fluffy crumbs.

"Wait, did I eat it already...?" Her confusion turned to more hunger as she eyed the crumbs. She chose to shrug it off. "Meh, oh well." Without a care to the world, she licked the plate of its crumbs, not realizing that her beloved piece of cake was swept by a pair of talons and taken towards the living room area.

"I'm back!" Staraptor returned in a hurry, flapping her wings behind Nic and Erza. She held up the piece of cake to the baby's face, much to Erza's surprise.

"Hold on...isn't that the last slice from my cake?" Erza inquired, her tone mixed with shock and resentment.

"Cooooo!" The transfixed child's face brightened as soon as he saw the food in Staraptor's talons. He tried reaching for it, much to Erza's surprise.

"I apologize in advance." Staraptor held up the cake to her beak, biting off a small chunk that was baby sized. "Say 'aaaah'." She leaned forward, with the baby opening his mouth wide to accept the delivery from his mother figure's beak. As soon as the piece was inside, he started chewing. The look on his face showed the idea was a success.

"Cooooo!" He moaned, enjoying the soft, spongy food. Staraptor took the baby by the talons out of Erza's hold and drifted towards the kitchen floor to continue feeding the child.

"So it has a sweet tooth, huh?" Erza observed, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, looks like it." Nic replied, giving the gummy pack a conspicuous look. He turned it over, looking at the various flavors that were just like fruit snacks. "Maybe it only likes the sweet-flavored gummies after tasting the rest yesterday."

"That seems to be the case. Perhaps we can have Arthur arrange for only strawberry-flavored gummies."

"Sure, unless you want to have your entire cake supply to act as baby food until we come up with another idea." Nic put on a smug look, earning a glare from Erza. Nobody messes with Erza's sweets, not even him.

The redhead sighed. "You're lucky you're my husband, otherwise I'd have you pinned to the wall by knives."

"Well, we're just lucky that Staraptor acted when she did." He looked over at the kitchen, seeing Staraptor piecing off the cake with her beak, taking each individual piece and putting them in the baby's mouth. It looked very similar to how a mother bird would feed her hatchling. "You think it has to do with motherly instinct?"

"That's hard to say. Could be intuition." She folded her arms, putting weight onto one of her hips. "How was it that you helped your sister grow up?"

"I'm not sure myself. It just...worked out." In truth, Nic really didn't know how in the world he tended to Vanessa when she was still a baby. Though the memories themselves were bittersweet because he was too busy being electrocuted and stunned by Magneton.

Erza hummed in understanding. "Well, suppose we know where we lie in this relationship. Maybe it's best that we leave this to Staraptor from now on."

"Yeah, guess you have a point there." They both watched as Junior cooed in between pieces of the cake. He looked like he was enjoying the treat by his mother. From what they could tell, it seemed that Staraptor was also taking the role amicably well, too.

"She looks like she's really into it. She seems to be more of a parent than we are." Erza noted in a dry, sarcastic chime. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Nic.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Erza turned away, keeping her head high as she walked past him. "It's nothing important." She grabbed his hand, guiding them towards their bedroom. "Now come on, we have work to do today."

Down the hall, a door was heard slamming shut. Greninja and Aegislash exchanged blank looks, but between them there was an undertone of amusement. "Someone jealous for words?" Greninja chimed.

"They appear to be in healthier spirits since our little venture in Alola." Aegislash noted. "It's refreshing to see my trainer in such young spirits."

"Probably because of the little intervention we had during our stay in Alola." Greninja countered. "If that incident didn't do wonders, I wouldn't be sure what else would."

"Well, when it's just you against the world, it's hard to come by people you can really depend upon." Charizard noted, craning his neck for a more comfortable position on his arms.

"You ask me, that seems to happen quite often. I'd kill for a little break every now and again." Houndoom sniped. Others nearby didn't look half as amused as he was.

"If that's your idea of a joke, your punchlines could serve a little more bite than your bark." Talonflame dryly chirped.

"Heh, now that's a good joke. I'll give you that." Houndoom rolled his eyes towards the wall, his forked tail whipping behind his back.

"Your words have a lot of fire." Kecleon said, her head slowly – and creepily – tilted towards the other side. "Fires burn out...and they leave char stains that don't come off..."

"Heh, what she sssaid. Quit while you're ssstill ahead before you burn down the placcce with your crude humor alone. I can already sssmell the sssmoke ssstarting." Arbok hissed.

Houndoom and Talonflame cringed. It was much too early to get roasted...okay, even that was a bit much, but it still felt a bit much that everyone was on their case. Houndoom more so than Talonflame.

"It's much too early for this." Scizor grimaced.

Soft paws were heard coming from the kitchen. They all turned and saw Slurpuff peering from the side with an uneasy shift of her tongue. "Um...does anyone know if we have anymore cake? I'm, uh...just asking for Erza's sake...yeah..."

Nobody fell for it. They all gave her blank and unamused looks.

"Nice try." Charizard snorted.

---

Levy hummed as she turned the pages in her encyclopedia. With her Gale-Force Reading Glasses, she was gathering information at a supernatural rate with each page she turned. She looked back and forth between the egg Joey found and her pages.

Joey had his arms folded as he shot a conspicuous glance towards Dereece. "I still wonder how you found such a huge egg and wedged it beneath my sheets like that."

"For the last time, that wasn't me!" Dereece exasperated.

"So you're telling us that you woke up with an egg in your bed out of nowhere?" Gray questioned, folding his arms with a skeptical brow raised. "Something about this clearly isn't adding up. Where did it even come from?"

"Beats me. You sure Joey didn't just lay it himself?" Natsu pondered.

"Don't be so ridiculous, of course not!" Lucy snapped, fisting the back of Natsu's head for his idiocy. "More importantly, what exactly kind of egg is it? That's my concern."

"An egg? That's so manly!" Elfman declared, flexing with a smirk.

"Do you ever make sense when you say everything is manly?" Evergreen chastised.

"Maybe it's an Exceed egg?" Happy answered, leaning into the egg with curious eyes.

Pantherlily crossed his arms. "Doubtful. Exceed eggs are known to be of a much larger scale than normal-sized eggs. Though I can see why the circumstances match up with this one, it would be too small to be considered an Exceed."

"If that's true, then what specimen is it?" Carla pondered, taking her human form to think better. She was taken back with herself at how involved she was in this whole ordeal. It didn't even concern her, so why was she as curious as everyone else?

"Let's see here..." Levy turned to another page, discerning the various egg groups known to Fiore, perhaps Earthland as a whole. She kept looking back and forth between Joey's egg and the pages for any matches. Yet judging from the way she skimmed she had yet to find a suitable match.

"Hey Levy, you sure that's the right book?" Gajeel grunted beside her.

The petite woman glanced up at him. "Yeah, no problem. This book has as much information about as many specimens that can produce eggs. It's the latest edition as well." She skimmed through the last few pages, but as soon as she reached the last page, she furrowed her brow in disappointment.

"So what is it? Anything?" Wendy asked.

Levy shook her head, taking off her glasses. "No, I'm honestly a little shocked by this. I was sure the answer would be in this book." She looked back at the sunspotted egg. "Maybe this egg belongs to a whole other species that hasn't been discovered yet, maybe that's why?"

"If that's true, then knowing where it came from is more of a concern than it was before. I say we should figure out where its nest is and just leave it there. Who knows what trouble it might cause?" Gray pointed out.

"Gray darling, maybe it just got lost. It seems a little unfair to just leave it unattended out in the open." Juvia persuaded, giving him a pleading look.

"She's right. A wild Ekans would make a hefty meal out of something like this." Dereece frowned. "But...it's not like we can just leave it unattended either. Maybe we should head the Magic Library to find more-"

"No." Joey cut off Dereece, walking up towards the egg. The way he looked at the egg so seriously was what alarmed many of his guildmates.

"Captain?" Dereece inquired.

"Don't you see, Dereece? This is a sign."

He raised a brow. "I'm afraid to ask this...but a sign for what, exactly?"

"A sign that..." He picked up the egg, whirling around on his light feet into a single-heel pivot to hold it up high. "I am ready...for motherhood!"

Everyone around him nearly floored, for various reasons. Others seemed amused by this, such as Vanessa and Sophie. Others like Dereece and Lucy had looks like they had just suffered a stroke. Others were just plain stupefied with the fault in such a logic.

"Um...I-I don't think that's how it works..." Wendy nervously said, raising a shaky index finger.

"You're telling me. Just hearing that from Joey of all people is asking for trouble." Gray sidenoted, shrugging his shoulders. "Speaking of which, I think you mean fatherhood, right?"

Joey gave Gray an unamused look. "Did you hear me stutter? I know what I said. I'll say it one more time for the homies in the back." He held the egg up high. "I'm gonna raise this guy and be its adoring mother! Did you all hear that?!"

"Yeah, we heard ya alright." Dereece despondently said. "But, uh, look, Joey. Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, being a fa - I mean mother is a big responsibility all by itself. And with us working and all that, maybe we should find somebody else more qualified for this...position?"

Now it was Dereece's turn to be given a look from his Captain. "What's the problem? My own mom raised me all by myself, and look. I turned out awesome!" He smirked, striking a pose.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of." Dereece whispered.

"Besides, there must be some reason why it ended up in my care. Maybe it was by Arceus, maybe it could have been a sick joke. Or maybe it could have been by aliens that had to abandon their young or something. But really..." He cradled the egg in both arms, holding it tight enough that it wouldn't break. "What's the harm of not giving a newborn life a chance? Remember what happened with Mister P and Ella?"

"Yeah, she tried to kill us." Dereece said matter-of-factly.

"Yes, yes she did. But at the end of the day, she became family. Maybe it could end up like that again, but what child doesn't eventually go into a rebellious phase, am I right?" He shook his head, realizing he was digressing. "Eh, the point is, I'm willing to give this responsibility of being a mother a shot. And I'll raise it all by myself if I have to prove it."

"Aw, that's so sweet of you. I think you'd make for a wonderful mother." Mirajane swooned from the bar.

"Somehow I just know this is a bad idea." Lucy worried, facepalming herself.

"I don't know, sounds pretty fun to me. After all, Natsu and I raised Happy together when he was still just an egg. Right~?" Lisanna looked over at Natsu, mischievously smirking.

The Dragon Slayer nervously looked away, rubbing the back of his head. "Heh, well I guess so."

"Speaking of family, has anybody seen Nic and Erza?" Sophie asked, looking around the guild hall for her fellow guildmates.

"I'm pretty sure they're running late. They must be tending to that creature that followed them the other day." Vanessa pondered. Suddenly, her aura picked up on familiar readings from the entrance. "Speaking of which..."

Entering through the saloon doors, Nic and Erza arrived on the spot. Right behind them, Staraptor was in tow, having Junior on her back giggling at the ride through the air. Almost immediately, Shiin had his guard up as he shot glares from the corner of the guild hall.

"Sorry we're late. The little guy was a little picky." Nic reasoned. Junior giggled again, much to his chagrin.

"Good morning, you guys." Mirajane smiled warmly, before turning towards the baby cloud on Staraptor's back. "Good morning to you as well, Junior."

"Coooo!" Junior tapped his puffy hands together to signal a clap. The sight nearly melted Mirajane and Lucy's hearts.

"He's most certainly a handful, that's for sure." Erza smirked, turning towards the baby cloud. "But for the most part, we're starting to pick up pieces here and there. Though it's still a challenge."

"I'll say. Which is why we're trying to tell Joey keeping another one of these is a bad idea." Gray remarked, pointed a thumb over his shoulder at Joey showing off his egg.

"Hm? Another one?" Erza turned towards The Freaks, though from what it seemed, Joey was in control of the situation. "An egg?"

Joey turned around, his eyes widening at the sight of Erza. "Erza-senpai, good morning! Nic-senpai! Look!" He held the egg dangerously close to their faces. "Look what Arceus has bestowed upon me~."

"Let me see." Erza moved closer to inspect the egg. She had to admit that its overall design was something to be admired. And, as odd as it felt, the egg was warm. Very warm. She was tempted to hold it even. "What kind of egg is it, do you know?"

Duncan, who was reading a book about magic control, briefly looked up at Erza. He didn't seem obligated to answer – or care for that matter – and resumed reading.

"Beats me. That's what we're trying to find out." Gajeel answered.

"We don't know what it is, but Joey said he would look after it until we learn what it is." Lucy explained, getting nervous at just the thought. "Honestly, it feels strange having him as a role model."

Joey furrowed his brow. "Oh, way to show your support guys! Some friends you are!"

Sophie strode up to his side, putting a hand with fresh fingernail polish on his shoulder. "Don't worry about what any of them say, Joey. If anything, I think you can manage just fine."

Joey beamed with pride. "Thank you, Soph. That really means a lot. At least someone is actually supportive of this whole situation, unlike some other people who apparently don't know the first damn thing about trust." He shot a look at the guild members, making a few wince in slight guilt.

"Cooooo!" Junior waved his arms up and down before leaping off Staraptor's back. He paddled himself across the table towards the egg, where he looked around it with a curious gaze. "Coooo!" He bobbed and hopped around the egg, smiling with joy.

"How nice." Erza chimed, before she got an idea. Her hands were brought together in a clap. "Maybe we can set up play dates for them. It's always nice to have company and socialize, especially at such a young age."

"That isn't helpful in the slightest!" Dereece backlashed.

"Then, it's settled." Joey hopped onto a stool, then onto a bench, until he stood atop a table to present the egg with pride. "I will take up the responsibility, and become a mommy!"

Vanessa chuckled, resting her elbow on the table next to a glass of lemonade. "Well, well, this is going to be interesting."

The guild members chose to let it be, unable to change the mind of Joey Haycliff. While others had tried, others had instead taken time to observe, much like Shiin had. With a few photos taken of Joey with the egg, he briefly looked over at Nic, realizing he was also giving him a spare glance.

"Only if you come after me first. I made this warning very clear to a certain someone who you so much remind me of...and he fell on his own sword rather than accept what could have been a different future."

Memories of their conversation from the other day sparked in Shiin's mind. He may not have shown it, but his mind was stirring with Nic's warning. But right now, it wouldn't be wise to act. He will have to do the one thing he was tasked to do: Observe.

---

"Joey, there's a number of things wrong that you normally do on a daily basis. So much so that it should be in a world record book somewhere. But this...this is just wrong, wrong."

Walking down the streets of Magnolia, The Freaks were taking the long road back to their base. And by base, that meant Joey and Dereece's house, much to Duncan's chagrin. But that wasn't something to be embarrassed about. What there was to be embarrassed about, however, were the few stares people were giving them as Joey had a sling on his stomach that carried the egg. Beneath that was a bright pink shirt, with violet letters spelling "Baby On Board". And the fact that it was Joey of all people wearing something like this, it was just screaming for attention and shame that he was completely unaffected by.

"Oh, quit your griping Dereece. Or are you just mad that you want to have a turn with the little guy..." Joey quickly went silent, blinking as he thought of a follow-up. "O-or girl. You know, whichever."

'The gender of the egg is the farthest thing from my mind.' Dereece thought, keeping that note to himself. He sighed once more. "Well, Captain, there's really no point stopping you, so I guess I'll support this. But don't you think you're drawing a little too much attention to yourself?" He pointed towards the sling the egg laid in. "And how much did that sling cost anyway?"

Joey shrugged. "2,000 Jewels. It was a sweet deal. And besides that, I'd rather people get the memo sooner rather than later. Look around you, Dereece." As they were striding down the street, Dereece's eyes fell upon the patrons passing by. "If they know there's a baby on board, they'll know to be extra cautious around me. In other words, unless they want to attack us straight out in the open, we'll have a little elbow room."

"I see." Duncan lifted his cap, showing he's been paying attention. "So you're saying that if the egg was misplaced by poachers, we can tell them from the rest of the crowd. A win-win, you would say."

Joey smirked. "Look who's catching on." He shot a glance down at the egg. "We still don't know how this little guy ended up with me, or what it really is, but if it really wasn't by some act of Arceus and that other parties are involved, at least this would be a start to having them out in the open. We'll keep an eye out just to be sure."

The group eventually made it back to the base. Joey closed the door and made sure the lock was on tight.

"In the meantime..." Joey moved towards the couch, where he gently placed the egg on a pillow surrounded by a blanket like a nest. "I'm gonna raise this guy the best way I know how...through booty!" He snapped a finger in Dereece's direction. "Dereece, dope beat time!"

Dereece obliged and pulled out Boombox. He sat it on the stand nearby and pressed the play button

[Laurie Burgress – Everybody Groove]

Joey moved his head side to side with the beat kicking up, a devious smirk crossing his face. "You gonna enter the world..." He paused, relaxing his shoulder. "Gonna do it in style!" He pulled out his Poke Balls and Luxury Ball. He threw them up, summoning Quilladin, Tranquill, Trubbish, and Palpitoad into the living room.

"Come, my peeps! We should show this egg how to move it and groove it!" Joey urged, rolling hips pelvis and bending backwards.

Quilladin smiled widely. "Sweet!" He mimicked Joey's dancing, pointing a claw up with him. "Everybody!"

"You got it!" Tranquill chirped, his wings raised with joy. He turned around, shaking his tailfeathers at the egg. "Everybody groove now!"

Trubbish let out an odorless belch, before she started with the beat as well. Her tiny feet paddled side to side, matching Tranquill.

"Nevidím v tom veľký zmysel, ale dobre." Palpitoad's tail went up, deciding to roll with it.

"That's the spirit guys, let's show this little guy just how to live the good life!" Joey struck a pose, holding a gangster sign with a knowing glare. "Time for a little rehabilitation, people."

"Here we go." Dereece groaned.

---

And so, it began. It went on for what had felt like hours, but in reality it had been half a week. Much to Dereece's surprise – and partially Duncan – Joey was actually being responsible. And as goofy of a job he seemed to have been doing with how every other hour he spent was playing music and shaking his booty, the egg was tended to otherwise. Joey made sure to have it lay on a cushion and incubated within sheets to keep it from freezing. When he would head out to the East Forest to train, he wouldn't take it with him. Instead, he'd ask Sophie if she were available to watch the egg until he finished his training in a few hours. It was amazing how – to the guild – someone like Joey can take up the reins.

But almost every time Joey was beside the egg, however, the Boombox was playing songs that Joey and his fellow Pokémon joined in on; Dereece and his Pokémon joined in on some occasions as well. But rest assured, Joey always made sure there would be enough elbow room to ensure no limb would accidentally hit the egg.

He was stupid, but he wasn't idiotic.

One time, Joey even brought the egg with him to the local beauty salon. He sat beside Sophie while they would be getting pedicures on their toes. "And then I was all, like, 'Oh, no you didn't!', and that bandit was all, like, 'What you gonna do about it?'. And guess what I did."

Sophie knowingly smirked. "You made a barrier?"

"Ha! I did one better! I made a barrier that made him stumble...onto Dereece's Stunfisk! Ha! Let me tell you, he sure got a shock out of that trap." He moved his head and neck to the side of the overlapping egg latched to his lap. "Make sure it's a light coating."

The cosmetologist nodded, before applying red nail polish on his toes...as did the second cosmetologist that applied small toenail-shaped polish on the bottom of the egg.

He even went on walks along the flower fields that Palpitoad showed him several weeks ago. He frolicked while tucking the egg in its sling, occasionally grooving into sudden breakdances with light footwork. Petals danced all around him as he pivoted and spun in place. He had his head back as he smiled joyously as petals dazzled around him and the egg like confetti.

There was even a time when Joey decided to draw on the egg's surface, via a Magic Pen. The ink would have smeared and messed up the egg, so something light and nontangible felt more appropriate. He drew a happy smile with dots for eyes, showing the egg to be happy.

Joey hummed as he beamed with pride...until he heard the sounds of regurgitation from the kitchen. He raised a brow and slowly turned towards the kitchen floor, seeing a fresh pool of acid mixed with fresh berries and Honey that Heracross had thought Trubbish wouldn't mind eating. Boy was he wrong.

"Dereece, get the hose again! We got a big one!" Joey shouted. He turned towards the egg, wiping the ethereal smile away and replacing it with a frown.

Joey was so into it in fact; one time, when he was having vanilla ice cream as a dessert, he took a bite of it, and his face immediately paled. "Bleck!" He stuck out his tongue, gagging for relief. "I thought I asked for chocolate! My motherly cravings didn't call for vanilla! Dereece~!"

Through it all, Dereece shook his head in displeasure. "Kill me..."

Eventually, it came time for another day to end. With the sky blanketed in darkness, it was the signal for Joey to turn in for the evening. Dereece had already fallen asleep, leaving him to close his bedroom door. Once closed, he turned away with a loud yawn.

"Phew, who knew being a mother would take it out of ya?" He raised a brow, looking at his ceiling as he strode past his bed. 'What if I had actual kids?' As entertaining as the thought was of having little versions of himself running about, he knew better than to digress. He would cross that bridge when he gets to it...if he ever gets there.

'I would raise them to be exactly like me. Charismatic, handsome...oh! And I can't forget the brains, gotta have those to get through a day.'

He walked over towards the egg, which sat on a small perch wrapped in blankets on a soft cushion Joey took from the couch downstairs. He kneeled to look at the egg, giving it a small smile. "Look at you...when you hatch, I hope you have a big smile to greet this world. Because I know it'll warm everybody up." He leaned in to give the egg a soft, motherly kiss. He moved towards his bed and sank beneath the sheets, along with his plush versions of Nic, Erza, and Vanessa. He reached over and turned off the lacrima lamp, allowing darkness to encompass the bedroom.

As soon as Joey succumbed to his sleep, all was quiet within the bedroom. A little too quiet. With his slumber, Joey was unable to realize the faint glow the egg had in the dark. It was faint, but with it carried a very warm, shining light.

As the light illuminated the bedroom like a nightlight, it radiated on and off, making constant flashes. Amongst these flashes, a silhouette within the shadows peered burning orange eyes at the warm light.

When the warm glow faded, so did the orange eyes in the darkness.

---

Another day, another Jewel. That was the old-fashioned motto to some of the working-class civilians that did business. And to The Freaks, this was no exception.

"Is this absolutely necessary, Dereece?" Joey frowned.

Dereece held up a flier to Joey, showing a picture of a large group of both male and female Nidoran in a forest area. "Afraid so, Captain. Our food budget is on its last leg. We don't rack up something to preserve ourselves, we'll end up cutting into the rest of our other expenses for the rest of the month." His gaze grew half-hearted. "Not that they haven't been depleted already."

Joey cringed. He knew to a certain degree that Dereece was right, and he knew better than to act like nothing was his fault. But a part of him couldn't help it either. Being a parent-to-be isn't exactly easy. Was this how his mother felt?

Joey craned his head back and groaned unenthusiastically. "Fine. How much does it pay at least?"

"25,000 Jewels to reroute a Nidoran problem just outside Clover. We hurry, the train should take us straight there. We might even make it back before dinner if we're lucky."

Joey nodded. "Alright. Guess we'll need to find a sitter for little Joey Junior here. Now, where to..." His eyes widened at a realization. "Oh, I know someone. Oh, Sophie~!"

It didn't take long for Joey's little chime to reach the ears of his fellow blonde friend. The Freaks stood outside their own home, with Sophie at the doorstep being told about their little job they needed to get done. It didn't take long for the eggsitter to understand.

"Sure, I think this might be as good as time as any, I suppose." Sophie said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Vanessa and I just had an overnight job, so we weren't planning on anymore work for the rest of the day."

"I bet on that. Knowing Vanessa, she's out like a log." Dereece smirked.

Sophie meekly chuckled. "You guessed right. Don't worry, I'll watch it if you really need me too."

"Thank you, Sophie. Sorry if this came up at a short notice. I'll be sure to owe you for this little favor." He looked down at the egg that sat in his hands. Even now, it was as warm as a flame's tip. "Alright little guy, your Mommy needs to go out for a little bit. Be a good...uh, egg, for Mommy's bootiful friend, okay?"

"I'll be gentle, Joey. I promise." Sophie assured. With that assurance, Joey offered her the egg, to which she accepted. Even she was taken back by how warm it was.

"Alright Freaks, let's get moving!" Joey shouted, rolling his wrists and pointing in the direction of the train station. Dereece and Duncan followed his lead without a moment of hesitation.

Sophie watched them until they were eventually out of sight. She paused for a moment and looked down at the egg that sat in her hands. It could have been her imagination, but she thought she felt the egg get a little colder. Granted it was still as warm as a fireplace, so it wasn't like there was much of a difference that it should matter...right?

She shook her head dismissively of such a claim. 'I should head inside and make sure it stays warm.' The blonde took the initiative and hurried inside. Even though she was certain that the late-July heat would do plenty to keep the egg warm, having it out in the open would not be the safest idea. Even she knew better than that, and she didn't even have any experience caring for eggs...

Or did she? If she ever did tend to eggs in the past, it would have been before this whole "memory genesis" she supposedly went through. She had noticed that much of what she had been doing was on a subconscious level. For example, waking up Vanessa by ranting about her Krookodile's violent nature terrorizing the furniture. Or maybe whenever she did her makeup, she'd always be sure to allow a thicker coating along the top lip like it was natural of her to do. She also had noticed that the way she would bake her pancakes at just the right time on each side before flipping to the other. Though, that last one she thought could hardly pass off as second nature.

But dotting on the self-analysis would only spiral into an unwanted headache. Besides, she shouldn't worry about her subconscious habits, not while she had her own image to mend. She looked towards the living room, which had a very vague parallel to her own home.

Now that she realized it, there were a lot of ways that Joey and her apartment were similar. For instance, their staircases were at the foot of the front door. Their living rooms were located on the right-hand side of the complex, and had a kitchen on the left-hand side. If that was just the downstairs scenario, she could only imagine what the upstairs was like.

The idea was enough to send a shiver down her spine. She never realized just how similar the two were until now. It almost spooked her. At this point, be it her subconscious thoughts or coincidences on home décor, she may very well pass all this off as fatigue.

She shook her head dismissively. 'At this rate, my brain will rot before my body reaches the couch.' She looked around the living room, immediately diverting her attention towards the couch. She sat the egg in a comfortable position. "Now, stay right there. I better find some fresh sheets for you and myself."

As soon as Sophie had left for the stairs for the sheets that were supposedly in the hallway closet upstairs, something small crept out of the cabinets beneath the sink. Its paws grabbed the blinds to the curtains, completely blocking off the light fixture in the house.

In the darkness of the living room, the egg casted another warm glow...before a shadow swept over it.

---

Erza walked outback to the wide-open backyard. As soon as she saw splashing in the battlefield-sized pond, she knew instantly who it was. "Nic!"

Even through the splashing of the water, Erza's voice still somehow managed to reach Nic's eardrums. He adjusted his half-naked body and wiped his eyes of the freshwater before looking over his shoulder. "Erza?"

She walked closer towards the edge, which was nothing short of a steep incline towards the deep blue. She watched as Nic swam closer towards the shore before lunging out of the water. "What is it?"

"I was wondering where you were. Looks like you were enjoying a nice midday swim." She said casually.

Nic sat his hands within his trouser pockets. "Yeah, figured I'd get a little swim in since I was out here. I just finished my tree jumping training, so I thought a little drift in the waters would feel nice."

Erza sexily chuckled. "You'll have to tell me all about it later. But right now, I came out to tell you that I'm heading out for a job."

"I see. With Natsu and the others I take it?"

She gave an affirmative nod. "That is correct. I never thought I'd be so enthralled in the idea of a job. I trust that it will get my blood boiling." She held up a balled fist, a determined and bright smile plastered on her face. "We'll bring pride to the guild and trainers alike!"

Nic dryly snorted. Unlike Erza, he couldn't relate to having pride as a guild mage, but he certainly understood her position. "Nice to see you're in such spirits." He sincerely smiled. "Alright, make sure you watch your back."

"I will. I presume Junior is under Staraptor's watch as usual?"

"Yeah, he's been calming down a little since we were able to get more sweet gummies for him...but Staraptor still has her wings full with him. She hasn't had much time to work out with us." His voice had a notable dejection at the last part. Even though he understood her responsibilities, he had hoped they were only a temporary setback.

"I'm sorry about that. I'm sure everything will work out. But in the meantime..." She leaned in, planting a soft kiss on her husband's lips, much to his surprise. She pulled back and smirked. "I'm sure you'll find ways to improvise with the situation. That's your niche after all."

Nic blinked, before the realization sank in. "Yeah...guess you're right."

Erza hummed one last time before turning away. "We'll be back by nightfall. I expect a clean home to return to by the time that happens."

"Yeah, sure thing." He watched as Erza took her leave towards the guild hall. While his wife went out on a job to earn their keep for the next couple of days, he was left behind to tend to the house and whatever was necessary. 'Well, it's not like I should leave on a job now. If I did, I'll never hear the end of it from her...' He raised his head towards the partly cloudy sky overhead, immediately shading himself with a hand.. "It's as hot as it was in Alola..."

Memories of his recent trip to Alola once again flooded his mind. More accurately speaking, the battles he fought alongside Erza and the Pokémon. Thinking back to it, there had been some fairly good calls made from time to time. And other times where he could have done something - or use something -different to diffuse the situation.

"Just don't forget, change is a very slow process. It's not something that should feel like it should be rushed to get anywhere. Just remember to pace yourself when you're seeing anew, alright? I'm sure you'll find a better opportunity to use battle items after we uncover the whole Z-Ring mystery. And just maybe…you might get used to the idea of Z-Moves if we ever get to use them."

'She really expects me to get used to the last part that easily?' Nic shook his head. The idea of working with Z-Moves may have some measure of validation in a situation or two, but he knew to use it, he'd have to take away either Charizard or Garchomp's Mega Stones. 'In a prolonged situation, it's better to have Mega Evolution, that I know from experience. And Charizard learned Thunder Punch on a whim against that black prism. At least we have a defense against Water-types now...'

As the clouds rolled over his head, one of them partially blocked out the sun, putting Nic in its shadow. He stared out as his epiphany fumbled around until he came to an idea. He reached for a Poke Ball, enlarging it.

'Better to start somewhere than stay put. Answers won't come just by thinking alone.' He turned around, serving the capsule into the air before it popped open. Energy shot down in front of Nic, taking the form of Garchomp.

The Mach Pokémon unfolded his body, before craning his head and neck into the air. His mouth opened wide to expel a roar that sent airwaves throughout the area, scaring away the birds in the vicinity.

Nic approached the bloodcurdling creature, switching to his Toxic Form. 'If we're going to have an effective victory from here on, we're going to have to cover our bases first.'

Meanwhile, the sight of Nic with Garchomp didn't go unnoticed through the clear glass visage that came from a set of binoculars. The glass was enchanted with magic to enable Shiin to see from the valleys just to the west of Magnolia.

'I should be safe from cover with this magic concealment cloak. And thanks to these magic binoculars, I can see well up to 4 kilometers with enhanced glass to give refined resolution.' Shiin thought. 'I told Nic that I would be watching him, and I meant it. But doing it afront won't get me anywhere, he's much too perceptive. My best chance at results for now would be to observe from a distance and see what he's planning.'

With him camouflaging his cloak with the greenery surrounding him, there was no way he could be spotted, even by Nic! This was a foolproof way to get visual intel on his behaviors and battling methods.

"Freeee!"

An all-too-familiar chirp sent a shiver up Shiin's cloaked spine. His brows dampened as he heard a set of wings flutter closer until he felt a surprisingly heavy weight on the back of his head.

"Don't tell me..."

"Freeee!" Greeted by none other than the persistent Butterfree himself, Shiin turned his head to look back at the red-lensed butterfly that fluttered before him. His face showed clear displeasure.

"You are a very persistent bug, has anybody ever told you that?" Shiin grunted, showing his trademark bitter leer.

Butterfree didn't have any response other than his signature chirp, kicking up his feet and fluttering madly to show his glee.

Shiin turned away, showing his exasperation in a deep sigh. "I keep asking you these questions, and yet you insist that a lack of answer will suffice. Either you're being mute on purpose to disregard those questions as trivial, or you believe that you are not entitled to answer such a question that a human must." He turned the right lens on his binoculars counterclockwise, zooming in further to get an even closer visual of Nic and Garchomp. "It makes no difference, I suppose. In the end, it's only best to have those of your kind fulfill that obligation. Meddling in the likes of others that have no comprehension of their position is nothing more than a waste of time and breath."

Butterfree tilted his head at his remark. He turned towards the direction where the binoculars were looking and fluttered over towards a nearby tree branch to perch his blue feet.

Shiin took a moment to peer away from his objective to raise a brow. What is it doing now? Hold on. Is it...observing with me?' He furrowed his brow, scoffing as he resumed his watch. 'Hmph, well, I suppose it doesn't matter. So long as it doesn't get in the way of my observations that is. But, that doesn't mean I won't be aware of it as well.'

Butterfree remained on his perch, looking out with his compound eyes at the sight of Nic and Garchomp's training as the large cloud rolled over, brimming sunlight onto the atmosphere once again.

---

The hours went on, with everyone continuing their day at their own leisure. Of course, others like Sophie, who simply laid on the couch and slept, that was accommodating as well.

Knock! Knock!

"H-hmm...?" The knocking was loud enough to arouse Sophie, her upper body arching up in the direction of the door. "Who is it...?" she lazily muttered.

"Joey Junior, guess who's home~!" An all-too-familiar voice rang on the other side of the door, alarming the sleepy blonde.

"What time is it?" She stirred herself back onto her feet and looked towards the nearest clock. Her eyes almost exploded out of their sockets when she saw the time was almost four in the afternoon. 'Oh geez, I slept the whole afternoon! When did I become Vanessa of all people?'

Knock! Knock!

"Sophie, you there?!" Joey shouted from the other side.

"Huh? Oh, right! Sorry!" She shook her and quickly tossed her straying hair locks over her shoulder. She did not want to look unimpressionable. She moved towards the door and turned the handle to reveal The Freaks all accounted for, with a smiling Joey at the front of the pack.

"You're all back already?" Sophie greeted with a conscious smile.

"Yup. The job went pretty well." Dereece answered. "We've managed to corral all those Nidoran to a different area." His glance shifted towards the side. "Of course it was supposed to be until a Nidoking and Nidoqueen showed up. Luckily for us, Duncan's Medicham took care of the problem easily."

Duncan turned away, scoffing. "I was expecting more from pairs like those."

"So, how was the egg? Was little Joey...or Joeyette behaving like a good egg?" Joey smiled excitedly, hoping for a good response.

Sophie turned towards the sofa, where the egg was wrapped in blankets on a comfortable cushion. "Yeah, I didn't see anything wrong with it when I was watching it. The house was kept the same temperature like you asked, too." She answered, trying to fight off a yawn. She didn't want to tell them that she had been sleeping a majority of the time, that would have been way too embarrassing.

In a sudden blur, Joey sped past Sophie, making a burst of air that made her hair whip frantically. Everyone's eyes shot towards him as he hopped over and picked up the egg from its soft, cottony cocoon, "Mommy's home~! Did you miss me?" He pivoted on his heel, holding the egg closely towards his chest. "Glad you didn't give your sitter a hard time. I would have been very upset if something happened."

The egg's response was a faint glow, something that took everyone by surprise. "Captain Joey, the egg! It's glowing!" Dereece gasped.

Joey's eyes lit up with sparkles, gasping like a dehydrated Magikarp. "Oh my god! It is! Dereece, do you realize what this means?!"

"It's gonna hatch soon?" He answered. He looked over at Duncan to see what his reaction would be. His glare gave him an unnerving chill. "Duncan...what's wrong?"

His eyes didn't leave the egg. He was noticing that within Joey's embrace, the egg was glowing brighter, and brighter. His instincts told him something was definitely wrong here. He stepped forward, while Joey was marveling at the egg's shine.

"It's twinkling brighter! Is it really hatching already...oof, it's uh..." His palms were starting to feel a lot of heat. "It's...it's pretty toasty..." The egg was starting to vibrate like a phone – violently! His brows furrowed with his growing anxiety. "Um, guys...I don't think eggs are supposed to vibrate like this."

Dereece blinked. "Hold on, vibrate? Eggs don't vibrate before they...oh no." He reached out for Joey. "Captain! Quick! Lose that thing, now!"

Joey's eyes gradually widened at the realization. Before he realized it, the egg felt like it was about to burst into flames – it was that hot! But he was so in shock that his mind was telling him to run, yet he knew that would be pointless.

Duncan hastily sprinted for the backyard door. He unlocked it and slammed it open. "Quick, out here!"

"Uh, right!" Joey wasted no time ushering himself through the doorway, the egg vibrating louder with every second escalating. It sounded like a plane engine ready for takeoff, and it was rattling so much that one would presume that whatever was inside would be begging to be set free.

Duncan pulled out an Ultra Ball, quickly tossing it. "Magmortar! Throw that egg!"

The Ultra Ball was flung skywards, popping open to reveal Magmortar. With a hasty reaction time, Duncan grabbed the egg from Joey's clutches, quickly pivoting and sending it towards Magmortar. He caught it between his claws, which were able to conduct the heat much better to refrain from instant burning. He loaded it into one of his cannons and aimed for the sky. Without a second thought, the egg was launched with a small ignition of flames expelling from the cannon high into the sky.

Everyone watched with wide eyes as the smoky end of the egg faded, whereas the egg itself got brighter overhead.

BOOM!

Everyone covered their ears and got to the ground as the sky above them lit up in a medium-sized explosion. The air rattled intensely to where their hairs stood on end. Everyone within the vicinity stopped what they were doing and looked up in shock at the explosion over the street until it eventually diminished to a smoke cloud.

Once the audible rupture had come to its end, The Freaks and Sophie looked up, only to find shard of what used to be the egg raining down on them. Joey extended his hand out, creating a hemisphere barrier around them to protect them from any falling sharp debris. The residual shrapnel and waste flaked to the ground, along with the ashes.

The barrier was quick to lift, allowing Dereece to look around for precaution before facing his team. "Is everyone alright?!"

"Yeah...somehow." Sophie murmured, rising to her feet once more. She took a quick glance around, a worried look plastered on her face. "What...just happened there?"

"That's exactly what I was gonna ask. Only I was going to ask it like..." Joey calmly stood up, clearing his throat with his knuckles over his lips. He took a sharp inhale before facing the sky. "'WHAT THE HECK, MAN?!', that's what I was gonna say! So you're telling me this whole time, my precious baby was really just a bomb?!"

"Now, Captain. Please, let's just stay calm and think rationally..." Dereece urged his friend, only to be met with a glare from him.

"I am calm, Dereece! And I'm not dumb enough to know that eggs don't just explode on a whim!" He sharply turned to Sophie. "Sophie! What the heck?! What happened?! Were you even watching it?!"

Sophie bit her bottom lip, visibly distraught at Joey's temper fixed on her. "I...I swear, this wasn't me, Joey. Honest! I did watch it...until I ended up taking a small nap." She lowered her head, rubbing her left arm in embarrassment.

"Well, if it wasn't Sophie, then who did?" Dereece lifted his head, raising a brow in suspicion. "Or the better question here is, how they did it."

Duncan walked over towards one of the fallen shards that littered the dry dirt battlefield several yards out from them. He picked it up with the tips of his index finger and thumb and held it close to his face. His brow furrowed as he leaned into the shard.

"Uh Duncan, what are you doing?" Dereece asked.

Duncan didn't apply himself to Dereece's inquiry, instead indulging himself on the material the shrapnel container was made from. "This wasn't a real egg...it was a fake."

"How can you tell?" Sophie asked.

Duncan stood up, continuing to observe the shattered casing. "What happened was the result of an Explosion Lacrima molded to look like an egg. It was encased in a coating that would make it look like the real deal. It must have been set to go off upon the moment that it was touched."

"Otherwise, it would have gone off much sooner. Like...forever ago, or something like that." Joey looked down, putting a hand to his chin. Something about this just didn't add up. If he had taken care of the egg this entire time, how could he not have seen this coming? What Duncan said did have some validation towards it. It would have gone off much sooner had it been a bomb from the beginning. And if that's true, where was the real egg?

"Sophie, are you sure that you didn't see anything suspicious?" Dereece asked, turning towards Sophie for answers.

The blonde shook her head. "No, I promise you. I had the doors locked and everything. If anyone had broken in, I would have known."

"Okay, so that rules out Sophie since she slept on the job." Joey answered, making an unamused eyeroll off to the side. "But whoever did this...they timed this all too well. It was during our job, and the doors were locked. So who else could..." His eyes widened at an epiphany. "Oh...oooohhh. You have got to be kidding me!"

"What is it, Captain?" Dereece worried, taking cautious steps towards him.

"Dereece. Duncan...I have an idea of who could have done this." His eyes squinted as he started towards the doorway. "And if I have to wager, I'd say that's where the real egg is...and I have a really sneaky suspicion that he'll be expecting us."

Dereece looked at Duncan, who didn't bother to question the matter at hand. He went along with his Captain's lead, recalling Magmortar without even a word of thanks. As to where he immediately sat off for the supposed location, Dereece turned to put a hand on Sophie's shoulder. "Don't worry, Sophie. This isn't your fault. We'll be back, promise."

"Okay..." The blonde nodded, watching The Freaks take off yet again. She was more confused than anything else, especially with how quickly everything escalated. But right now, this was a matter that Joey needed to attend to himself. The look on his face was a dead giveaway. 'Be careful, guys.'

---

Staraptor used a wing to pull away the curtains, showing Nic and Garchomp in the backyard a fair distance away, the former in his Toxic Form firing a venomous coated jab that Garchomp easily deflected with his glowing green fins. He went for a follow-up slash of the wings, but Nic's reflexes made him duck and pivot away in mere milliseconds before Garchomp's knee went to strike.

As the two were in a frenetic parry that her trained eyes kept up with, she pulled the curtain back over to keep herself from looking at it. 'If I watch them anymore, I'm just going to start losing feathers.'

"Cooooo~!"

Staraptor's head whipped around in time to see Junior paddle past a stand with a lamp sitting on top of it. He laughed obliviously, unaware of one of his hands rattling the stand that shook the lamp off balance. Reflexes reacting on second nature, She flew over and caught the lamp before it could hit the ground. She hoisted it back onto the stand, sighing in relief.

"That was much too close." She turned towards Junior, who stopped paddling to look back and smile at her. "Junior, you really need to be more careful of your surroundings. You can get hurt. Or worse, hurt somebody else."

"Coooo?" Junior tilted over, seemingly confused at what she meant. As if her statement was but a passing breeze, he looked around for anything that caught his eye. He noticed a sword that was mounted on the wall as a decoration. He bobbed up and down in place, gathering momentum before hopping up to reach for it.

"Junior!" Staraptor swept across the living room, grabbing the baby in midair before he almost came in contact with the sharp object. She glided around the living room in a circle, keeping Junior amused while she looked back at the sword. 'Nic warned Erza that having that as a decoration would do no good. I can see why now. I swear, she's as stubborn and rebellious as Nic.' She looked down at the happy Junior. 'Don't tell me that he'll end up like that.'

Junior giggled as he was guided around the living room. He looked to be having a blast and a half, for a lack of better word. That expression never faded as Staraptor led him towards the ground. Junior turned around, giving Staraptor babbles and energetic flailing of his arms.

"You're surely a wingful, you know that?" Staraptor shook her head, despondently smiling at the cloud. "You should be having your nap fairly soon, shouldn't you? You keep jumping around like that, you might actually fall asleep mid-flight."

"Cooo?" Junior tilted his head again, either confused, or in Staraptor's case, mimicking Kecleon. At this point, it was impossible to tell. But she witnessed Junior getting jumpy again, and once he took off again, he did so with much more energy. He hopped on top of the couch, onto the coffee table, and bounced off the walls. It was like seeing a neon cotton ball bent on sugar. Staraptor shook her head at such a sight.

"Oh dear, here we go again." Staraptor easily anticipated the bouncy Junior, seeing him ricochet towards her. She nonchalantly reached out her wing, catching the baby in her soft, healthy plumage. "Kids, they just don't seem to reason very well."

Junior laughed in joy as he was held up by Staraptor's wings. He didn't look fazed at all by her appearance, even with her Intimidate Ability.

"Well, at least someone is having fun." She dryly mused. "Well, if you're going to spring around like this, we should at least do it outside." She looked over her shoulder towards the backyard entrance. 'But we can't go outback because that will deter Garchomp's training. But staying inside won't do any good. Not with all these materials cluttered together. We need more open space.'

Junior blinked. As if somehow reading her mind, his expression turned to a smile. "Cooo!" he cried, raising his hands overhead. A multicolored outline appeared over him and Staraptor, much to the latter's shock.

"Wait, what are you-?!"

Before she had time to finish, she and Junior vanished from the living room.

---

When they reappeared, Staraptor's talons immediately felt grass. She registered the wind breezing through her crest, instantly knowing they were outside. She looked around with Junior, taking notice of the many trees and foliage that blanketed them from any views of the sky.

"Where...where are we?" Staraptor questioned, taking one last panel of the wilderness around her. Her red eyes quickly darted towards Junior, who smiled dumbly in her wingtips. "Did you do this?"

Junior didn't answer, instead choosing to smile and laugh aloud at the situation. Staraptor's patience was starting to run on a very thin slate at this point. She couldn't tell if this was his way of being funny, and even if it was, it sure as hell wasn't for her!

"Cooo!" Junior energetically hopped out of her hold, bobbing and bouncing all around Staraptor. He seemed more energetic than he was inside the house. His bottom skimmed along the grass, noticing how soft, yet also uncomfortable, it felt. It caused him to fidget before splashing off into the underbrush.

"Junior! Get back here! It's not safe to wander off on your own out here!" Staraptor cawed, taking off in pursuit.

---

A wild Sentret stood on its tail, scouting around for anything heading its way. When it noticed a very unpleasant smell that it recognized as a Super Repel, it immediately dove for the thick underbrush.

"Captain Joey, are you sure this is the correct way?" Dereece worried, giving the passing woods a wary look. Seeing a lot of eyes peering through shrubs and underbrush really had him on edge.

Joey shot him a raised brow. "Yeah Dereece, I'm positive." He reached into his coat, pulling out his handbag to scrounge for something inside. When he found what he was looking for, he pulled out an aged, folded map depicting a certain path towards a large red mark. "Besides, I kept this map with me this whole time. I figured I'd have to hold onto this in case something happened and I'd have to come back here. Glad I wasn't wrong."

The Freaks continued following Joey's lead, keeping close and holding a consistent, cautious speed. Their Captain had a grim feeling of whom was behind this, and if that were the case, they needed to be ready. If their own hunches were correct, they would have a good reason to stay on guard as well, especially with how low the sun was starting to get.

Joey suddenly came to a stop in a break in the forest path, staring at something in the distance. He gave the map one last look for confirmation before glaring forward. "This is it."

They looked forward, seeing what lied in the forest clearing ahead was the humble abode belonging to none other than the last person they could possibly depend upon. Just looking at it sent a shiver down Dereece's spine. "Yup, still just as I remember it alright."

"If I remember, he uses traps. So everyone, watch your step." Joey glanced over his shoulder. "That goes or you too, Dereece. You should probably stay off the ground just to be safe; give us a better vantage point if you can."

"On it." Dereece nodded, before activating his magic. He climbed the air as if it were an invisible staircase, until he was several feet above Joey and Duncan's heads.

With their teammate in a secured position, Joey turned towards Duncan. "Okay, follow me. And watch your feet. The last thing you want is to be caught by this guy again." He instructed with a whisper.

"Hmph. Fine." Duncan responded with a scoff, but he nonetheless complied with Joey's warning. He kept his eyes on the ground as he and Joey started towards the bungalow. Dereece stayed airborne and observed the open field ahead for any signs of traps.

"So...what's the plan once we get inside?" Dereece asked.

"Well, the first thing we're gonna do, is that we gotta get him in the open and expose him. It'd be a real hassle if he ends up sneaking behind our backs like he usually does. We need a light source that he can't control. Duncan, you pin him down. And if that doesn't work, I'll set up a barrier around the area so he can't escape. We're not leaving until we get what I came for. Nobody – and I mean nobody – is gonna hurt my bab-!"

CLICK!

Joey froze on the spot, feeling a lead weight drop into his gut. He slowly looked down at where his foot was and noticed the small imprint to a panel that was camouflaged by grass, as opposed to dirt like last time. "Ohhh shi-!"

Before he could finish, a large latch opened beneath him and Duncan. The two screamed loudly as they faded into the dark hole that seemed endless. Poor Joey didn't even had time to register and make a barrier to stop the fall.

"Captain Joey! Duncan!" Dereece cried out. He turned vertical and jogged a few paces down, straight above the hole. "Guys! Guys! Oh no, this is bad! I gotta go get help!"

Dereece turned around, but he was caught off guard by a blast of lightning from out of nowhere. His entire body convulsed from the nerves being short-circuited by the surplus of voltage violating his body. His cries of pain went hoarse as the electric blast prolonged long enough until he was limp.

The dazed Dereece was next to fall into the hole straight below, disappearing into the darkness moments before the latch snapped shut once more to blend with the grass.

---

THUD! BAM! BASH!

The constant banging of bodies against an inner vacuum reverberated through the shafts of the misplaced home. It sounded like a metal symphony with constant grunts from the three people that were being pushed through the ventilation.

The first one to reach the light was Joey, falling onto the red cushioned chair where his bottom planted itself. Next to him, Duncan was spat out on his right, with Dereece joining them on his left. The Freaks sat with dazed expressions, visibly and mentally confused at the scenario they were placed in.

Fighting back the urge to throw up, Joey closed his eyes and squinted. "Oof...I forgot how painful he made those things..." he groaned, turning his neck to the side to a loud cracking of bones.

"Ugh...where are we...?" Dereece looked around, realizing that he was sitting down on a red, leathery chair.

Suddenly, the lights went off again. Dereece instantly felt something strapping him down in the darkness. "Hey, what the-?!" The lights quickly turned on around them again, this time with restrains around them. He looked back, his eyes wide at his hands tied behind the chair.

"Hngh! What...?" Duncan looked behind himself to find his hands tied up behind his chair. What's worse, his metal pole was nowhere to be seen. 'Shit! We were blindsided again!'

Joey struggled with his restraints on his wrists. They weren't as tight as he thought they would be. Surprisingly, he could wriggle his wrists around, but it became extremely uncomfortable...and harsh on his supple skin.

"I believe that a proper 'hello' is in order." A voice called out. The Freaks jerked upright, their spines tingling at the sinister, sly tone in the air around them. The candles lit up by themselves, starting from their end going towards the shadows across the other room. When they reached the other end of the table, the entire room's lighting turned on, revealing a familiar figure slouched in his seat with a lavish smirk.

Kane greeted his guests with a simple raise of his glass containing ice-cold water. "Nice of you all to drop in on such short notice."

"Kane." Joey glared, shooting his archnemesis a disgusted look.

"I must say, I'm a little surprised myself." He took a pause to sip from his glass. As he swallowed, Whirlipede rolled up to his right side, with Boldore accompanying his left. He reached a hand over to pet the former, making him purr. "I wasn't expecting you to decipher that it was me who planted that little surprise for you. Certainly quite an...egg-plosive welcoming, yes?"

Joey eyerolled dryly. "Please~, I've heard better puns from Dereece's Stunfisk when he's half-asleep." Once more, he tried to get free. Whirlipede hissed aggressively at him, immediately making Joey freeze up at the threat implied.

Kane chuckled in amusement. "You are most certainly a resilient one, Joey Haycliff. I expected you to survive that little gambit I've set up. I suppose you wanna know how I pulled it off, don't you?"

"No, not really." He deadpanned.

"Good, because I'm going to tell you anyway." Kane turned his huge chair around, facing the shadows of the wall with a stand on it. On said stand, there were decorative ornaments that were painted gold. The way the candles and room lighting refracted light off the metal made them stand out like trophies.

"It took a little bit of scrounging, but I did my research on certain magical items such as lacrima. I'm sure that you are familiar with the magical library, are you not?"

Joey's eyes widened. He remembered Levy and Dereece mentioning that place a few days back. And if he also remembered, Duncan had books he had loaned out from there still in his possession.

"Well, anyways, I researched lacrima and how they could be molded. So, with a little elbow grease, I custom designed an Explosion Lacrima that I found." He rested a hand atop of Boldore's head. "With a little connoisseur from dear Boldore of course."

"Thank you. And it wasn't easy. Took me three days to dig up that thing." Boldore added, rolling up his front to beam his pride.

Joey's eyes squinted. "Figured as much. So do you have it, or what?"

"Why, whatever do you mean?" Kane paused. "...oh, I know. Is it maybe..." He slowly turned in his chair holding up the sunspotted egg in his right arm. "This?"

Dereece's eyes widened. "So the Captain's hunch was right! It was you!" he growled. "Should have figured. Now it all makes sense. He must have snuck in at the right time to play the switcheroo."

"Oh come now, Dereece. Was it that hard for you to understand?" Kane taunted. "A little word of advice: If you're going to hire someone as a sitter, do so when they aren't sleep deprived. You have no idea what trouble young, uneducated offspring can do without the proper adult supervision."

Joey's brow furrowed with his sharpened glare. His fists balled tightly with his growing frustration. "Kidnapping my teammates just to get to me, that's low...but stealing eggs? That's a whole new low, even for you man!"

"One must take what one wants, and what I want is to see the look on your face when I hatch this, and raise it specifically to destroy you!" Kane declared, his right eye narrowing a little. He waned away from them as he ran a finger in circles over the egg's top. "But, of course, I consider myself a reasonable diplomat. I wouldn't dream of putting such potential life into the dirt."

Joey had a feeling of where this was going. His gut wrenched with a bad feeling that was bubbling towards the surface. "So then...what is it that you want?"

Kane's eyes narrowed on Joey. He had him right where he wanted him. "I'd be willing to give this little one back to you. But in exchange, I would like...all of your Pokémon!"

The Freaks' reactions were priceless. Joey and Dereece had shock written all over their faces; Duncan was less lenient to express his shock, instead cascading a harsh glare at Kane. Kane relished in the uproar he had just created.

"Our Pokémon? Seriously?! Of all the things you could have asked, it's that?!" Joey growled, leaning forward in his seat.

"Please, Joey. Let's just think about this for a moment, shall we?" Kane raised his right elbow. "Why wouldn't I try for such a matter? I mean, it's the most logical when you think about it. In chess, to get to the king, you must take out the pawns. And without the pawns, what good would that king be?"

Joey shot vehement glares right into his eyes. To a certain standpoint, that would be the most logical thing to do. 'So this was his intention.'

"Now hold on! If you really wanted our Pokémon that bad, then why didn't you just take them before?!" Dereece shouted.

"Because, I wanted to see the look on all your faces, when you have to be the one to make such a decision." Kane replied, pointing at Joey for indication. "It's true, I could do that right now...but where would the fun be, if it were that simple?"

Whirlipede hissed by his side, seemingly agreeing. Kane held up the egg in one hand as it glowed. "Well Joey, what will it be? Do you choose the one over the many...or are you willing to risk everything for one? Choose wisely."

"Captain..." Dereece turned his head towards Joey in anticipation of what he would do.

Joey sat in silence as his options weighed heavily on him. He could feel his bottom gums aching from how much he was biting his lower lip to hold himself back. If he acted irrationally, Kane could very well harm the egg. In hindsight, at least this time around, Kane was actual showing mercy. He was offering him a chance to back out and walk away...with the cost of his tail between his legs. Is pride and dignity more important than someone's life?

As he thought critically, Kane sat back in his seat, holding up the bright, glowing egg like he would a wine glass. "Take your time, Joey...just make sure you choose right."

---

In the midst of munching on an Oran Berry, Butterfree's antennae perked up at a distorted cry. He lifted his head and looked back towards the darker parts of the forest where the sound resonated from. Out of curiosity, he took off from his perch from the branch above Shiin's head to check it out.

"Hm?" Shiin looked away from his binoculars to see Butterfree off towards the forest. He was skeptical about his reasoning for doing so, but he could barely make heads or tails of the butterfly's habits. 'Well, at least it's gone now.' He turned back towards the lenses to resume observing Nic and Garchomp. 'No telling when it'll be back to stir up trouble. I'll just have to take whatever notes I can before that happens...'

And yet, oddly enough, as he resumed observing in solitude, he found the atmosphere to be rather...chilly. It couldn't have been the temperature outside; his robe was designed to filter for proper body temperature. It was like a chill that sat on the hairs of his neck. He was tempted to scratch it, but he was much too resolute to digress. He looked up at the empty branch one more time, leering harshly at it.

'...no, I must retain focus. The security of the magic world depends on me. There is no room in prioritizing another's skepticism first.'

While Shiin chose to ignore his unlikely observer's wandering habits, Butterfree minded himself with his own inquiries. His personal investigation led him out into the woods, where the trees were notably thicker and more cluttered together. His little flight carried him through the tree canopies, until his compound vision caught a glimpse of something stirring in the underbrush.

He scanned the area with his bright red eyes. Even with such pinpoint accuracy, the butterfly couldn't tell what it was picking up. But vibrations reverberated off his antennae from this direction, so there was no mistaking that something was heading this way. He chirped loudly, kicking his feet up in warning.

The shrubs shifted to and fro...until a cloudy blur sprung out faster than the eye could track.

"Coooooooo!"

Butterfree jerked back in surprise as Junior pounced through the shrubs into the open. He plopped onto the grass and noticed he had made it to fresh, open forest land. His yellow eyes were wide with curiosity as he paneled left and right. The wide expanse of the forest had so much to offer him that he didn't even know where to start.

"Coooo...?" Junior blinked, trying to decide which direction his underdeveloped mind should take.

"Free?" A high-pitch chirp sang from above.

Junior turned his body to look skywards. Up above, his eyes met large, red, insectoid lenses that reflected his vision in hundreds of tiny multi-cell specs. The unknown creature's blue body and bright white wings were enough to leave him captivated. He was so lost in his wonders that he forgot about his little adventure.

"Coooo?" Junior tilted his head, an action that the Butterfree mimicked. He turned the other way, in which was mirrored as well. "Cooo." He moved his arms overhead up and down, mimicking the fluttering motions of the wings.

Butterfree wasn't sure what this creature was, but he had a feeling that it was relatively harmless. He chirped a hello, kicking up his feet again.

"Coooo-oh?" Junior's short attention span fell onto the partially eaten Oran Berry in Butterfree's grasp. "Coooo..."

Butterfree fluttered in confusion at what he was staring at. It didn't take long for him to realize that his puffy hands were reaching for his abdomen. He slowly traced his eyes towards the Oran Berry that was still partially intact. He was so lost at the moment that he had completely forgot about it. But far be it from a mere puffy cloud to stand in the way of a butterfly's appetite.

"Free!" Butterfree possessively pulled the Oran Berry closer to him, his chirp serving as a warning.

As if it fell on deaf ears, Junior smiled wide as he bobbed up and down for several seconds. Once enough momentum was reached, he jumped high and clamped onto the Oran Berry. He and Butterfree wriggled in the air as their grips on the berry were tight. It was clear both wanted it badly.

"Junior~! Junior!" Flying through the woods a short distance away, Staraptor finally caught up. Her red eyes widened when she saw the familiar multicolored cloud clinging onto a Butterfree. "Junior! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Coooo!" Junior whined.

"Freee!" Butterfree hissed aggressively. His wings were fluttering madly, making him dance and flutter uncontrollably through the air. He pulled on the Oran Berry a little harder, causing Junior to whine louder. A multicolored outline quickly formed around Junior and Butterfree's bodies, a sign that they were about to warp.

'Don't tell me...not again!' In a sudden burst of speed, Staraptor took a huge flap, unleashing an airwave as she jetted at sonic speeds towards Junior. "Junior, stop!"

"CooOOOOO!" Junior's wails grew louder just as Staraptor's made contact. In an instant, all three vanished from the spot, leaving a strong gust to kick up leaves and twigs from Staraptor's faded burst.

---

Kane tapped his index finger against his own cheek as he watched Joey carefully. "Well Joey...I'm waiting."

Joey kept his lips tightly shut, pursing a begrudging look at Kane. He looked over at Dereece, then turned to Duncan. They had expectant looks in their eyes, as if they had already known the logical answer to that. And as much as Joey would have preferred to have a more positive, straightforward way of handling problems, he knew from experience that such thinking would be foolish and unwise.

He had to make a sacrifice, and like it or not, it wasn't going to be easy for him to do. "...alright Kane, you can-!"

Suddenly, space distorted in the middle of the table before Staraptor, Junior, and Butterfree appeared out of the blue. Joey didn't get to finish his proclamation when the intrusion grabbed everyone's attention all at once.

The looks on everyone's faces was a mix of shock and confusion. Just where the hell did they come from all of a sudden?!

"What the...?!" Kane spatted in genuine shock.

Dereece blinked, before he came to the realization. "Hold on, isn't that-"

Finally, Staraptor pried Junior away, holding him in her talons. Butterfree drifted backwards to a halt as well, rattled by that sudden jump through space. The two fliers took a moment to gather their composures before processing what happened.

"Did we get transported again?" Staraptor turned left and right, realizing they were no longer in a forest. Instead, it was a vaulted, decorative bungalow with a neat table set directly below. Her eyes cascaded towards The Freaks and their binds around their chairs. "Joey?"

Joey's breath hitched, his eyes shrinking in his shock. "Wait, I recognize that Staraptor anywhere...you're Nic-senpai's!"

Kane showed genuine shock. "How did you all get inside my house?!" Whirlipede and Boldore moved forward, ready to attack on command.

Butterfree shook his head until the dizziness finally settled. He looked down at his tiny blue hands to find his Oran Berry piece missing. He chirped in shock.

"Coooo!"

His head whipped up, seeing Junior holding up the fragment of the juicy berry in his gassy clutch. He smiled happily before opening wide, putting the berry into his mouth. He hummed merrily, completely ignoring the dumbfounded and extremely irritated butterfly that was deprived of his snack.

"Junior, you shouldn't do such a thing!" Staraptor scolded.

"Coooo?" Junior turned to look up at his feathery mother figure, blinking in confusion. "Coooo!" He smiled again, trying to reach for her red crescent on her face.

"Free, free, FREEE!" Butterfree chirped in a flustered rage. His wings flapped faster with his growing annoyance at his snack stolen by a baby. What's worse, he didn't look the least bit aware.

"My apologies, this little one doesn't know better. Do forgive him for his curiosity." Staraptor pleaded, trying to avoid a scuffle. However, Butterfree looked far from pleased with such an excuse.

He hummed as kinetic energy manifested around his eyes. Two blue streaks with hypnotic circles zapped across the table towards Staraptor and Junior, via Psybeam. Staraptor's instincts immediately took action as she dodged it, allowing the move to stream over a startled Joey's head into the next room's window, shattering the glass to expose the outside world.

"Hey, watch it! You're gonna break something!" Kane quipped.

Butterfree, however, failed to appeal out of frustration. He chirped as he readied another Psybeam at Junior and Staraptor. Staraptor quickly configured the situation and drew up an idea. She flapped her wings and sped with a giggling Junior past Butterfree in Kane's direction. Butterfree turned around and chirped angrily before he fired another kinetic energy beam in her direction.

Staraptor did a barrel role and moved out of the way...allowing the beam to hit Boldore clean in his face. "Gngh!"

"Boldore, no!" Kane exasperated.

'Now's my chance!' With Kane and everyone else distracted, Joey glanced over his shoulder to focus on his binds. He tried relaxing his palms to make them easier to squirm out of the knot they were in. Thankfully with how slim he was compared to Dereece and Duncan, he was slowly showing progression.

Boldore grunted as the force of the attack was enough to buffer him. As he shook his head to get out of his daze, his hollow rock vision seemed to be hazy. He grunted low and swayed back and forth to let everybody know that he was confused. He saw blurs flutter around him, but he couldn't tell if it was friend or foe. In spite of his judgment, he blasted streaming mud from his eyes, via Mud-Slap directly into Kane's face.

"GAH! Boldore!" Kane snapped.

"Just...a...little more..." Joey slowly slipped his left hand through the tight rope, until he was able to pry it free. "Yes." He hissed, before looking up at Kane's situation.

The mud kept streaming from Boldore into Kane's face. He spatted and veered away to keep the mud from getting in his eyes. In his haste, the spray of mud caused him to fling the egg into the air, much to everyone's shock.

"The egg!" Dereece yelled.

With his bindings undone, Joey reached back and threw his Luxury Ball. "Palpitoad, catch that egg!"

The Luxury Ball was flung forward, bringing out Joey's Palpitoad. The amphibian gurgled before his mouth gaped wide open, expelling his long, sticky tongue through the air at the egg. Just before the egg was about to touch the ground, the tongue laced around it and nestled it. Palpitoad quickly retracted the appendage and handed the egg over to Joey.

"Quick Captain Joey, run!" Dereece shouted.

Joey didn't have time to argue. Now that they had the egg, the priority has changed to ensure its safety first. He held it tight as he made a break for the shattered window in the other room.

"What's happening?! I can't see a thing!" Kane shouted, getting up angrily. "Whirlipede, don't let them get away!"

Whirlipede hissed as he took the initiative rolling after the fleeing Joey. However, his path was interceded when a streaking Psybeam raced across the ground, putting him to a halt before Butterfree flew overhead to chase Staraptor and Junior.

"Grrrr...STOP MAKING A MESS IN MY HOUSE THIS INSTANT!"

---

Joey's feet planted in the grass, his shoes keeping his feet from getting cuts from broken glass scattered along the short porch and lawn. Palpitoad used his back as a springboard and flipped overhead with acrobatic twirls until he landed firmly on his feet out of the glass' range. The Captain made haste and raced off towards the direction they came from.

'Gotta put this somewhere safe until it hatches. It's too risky to keep it on me right now!' Joey panted as he held the egg tightly. It was much warmer than it was the last time he held it. It faintly glowed once more, grabbing his attention. "Huh? You're glowing...don't tell me..."

"Joey, pred tebou!" Palpitoad cried out.

Joey caught wind of what Palpitoad warned him about. A streak of lightning blasted in his direction from seemingly out of nowhere. Joey tucked the egg closer as he reached out with one hand at the lightning.

"Barrier-Make: Barrier!"

A turquoise barrier appeared in front of Joey, completely neutralizing the lightning strike. It gradually diffused, allowing Joey to lift the barrier to see who their attacker was.

"Hmph, can't believe that it's you pathetic lot. I see you haven't changed much." Striding out from the shadows of the woods, a familiar gray cat walked lethargically.

Joey furrowed his brow. Palpitoad's bumps vibrated out of defense against the familiar cat.

"First he had me hide in your stuffy little cabinets, now he's expecting me to be an outpost kitty. I swear, you humans are so petty that it's deploring. And they say us Dark-types have the short end of the stick." Standing in their way, Kane's Alolan Meowth interceded with a sassy pose. "Well, it's not like I have anything better to do, so I guess this is fine."

"It's Meowth." Joey grunted. 'He must have thought ahead in case he expected us to enter or leave.'

"And just where do you think you're going?"

Joey's ears twitched at the voice that came from behind. His right eye narrowed as he slowly turned to glance back in the direction of the bungalow. To his surprise, Kane had already caught up, having a dirty handkerchief wiping his left eye. Whirlipede hissed in front of him, glaring daggers at Joey.

"Did you really think that we would give up without a fight?" Kane sniped, gradually pulling out a Poke Ball. "I'll deal with my little pest problem after I deal with you first."

Joey grunted. One way or another, whether he liked it or not, there was going to be a fight. 'I could send out Tranquill to carry the egg away...but knowing Kane, he'll just use Meowth and shoot him down with Thunderbolt. There's no helping it. Guess my only option now is to get him to back off. Well if it's a battle he wants...' He held up a Poke Ball of his own. 'It's a battle he'll get!'

Kane smirked, seeing Joey's stance adjusting to fight. He snickered. "Come."

"Quilladin, let's go!" Joey threw his Poke Ball, summoning his Grass-type starter in midair. Quilladin stretched his limbs and landed right beside Palpitoad to face Kane and Whirlipede.

"I see. Quite the gambit you're setting up." Kane teased. "But...I have another little surprise for you." He threw the Poke Ball skywards. "Come out!"

The Poke Ball reached a high point before it sent out energy towards the ground. Landing right beside Whirlipede, a large, bipedal creature stood. It had a very distinct look that made it look similar to Kane's Buizel. However, he was notably far taller, with sharp fangs jutting out on either side of his mouth. Instead of a flotation sac around the neck, there was one around his back, similar to a raft. The fins on his arms had lengthened to reminisce of oars. His body was slender, with twin tails that whipped behind him as he flexed and snarled.

"Is that...?" Joey had a hunch, but he needed to be certain. He pulled out his PokeDex, getting a visual of the large weasel onscreen.

"Floatzel, the Sea Weasel Pokémon. Its flotation sac developed as a result if pursuing aquatic prey. It can double as a rubber raft."

He looked up from the image to face his opponent. 'I get it, so he evolved his Buizel. But he knew I sent out Quilladin, who has an advantage over Water-types...' His brow furrowed. 'Unless he has something in mind...'

Kane snickered. "Surprised? Well, you will be once you see Floatzel in action."

Floatzel stepped forward, ready for battle. "Raring to go."

Joey, Quilladin, and Palpitoad all grunted. They needed to get this over with. 'He must have been in haste to catch up to me. He must have left Boldore behind to occupy Dereece and Duncan. I can't rely on them to watch my back and deal with any reinforcements. It's up to me...again.'

Across the grassy field, Kane's orange eyes widened before reaching up towards the sky. "Floatzel, Rain Dance!"

Floatzel crossed both arms before reaching up into the sky. He let out a loud cry that reverberated into the atmosphere, drawing in dark storm clouds from the surrounding vapor. The bright sun waning in the distance gradually faded behind the dark spiraling clouds that covered the terrain.

One drop of water came down, dripping on a blade of grass. What came next was another drop, and then another...until rainfall completely drenched the area.

'He's starting off with Rain Dance to power up Floatzel's Water-type moves.' Joey evaluated. 'But that also means that Palpitoad's Water-type attacks will also be stronger. First thing's first, gotta get his defenses down.' He reached forward, making a command. "Palpitoad, Mud Shot!"

"Máš to!" Palpitoad gurgled as he jumped into the air.

"Nice try." Kane reached his arm out towards Whirlipede. "Whirlipede, Protect!" Whirlipede hissed in response.

Palpitoad gurgled loudly as he opened his mouth and expelled his long, sticky tongue. He swung around, his tongue glowing bright orange. He flicked it and shot several brown balls of mud that aimed for both Whirlipede and Floatzel. Whirlipede moved in front of Floatzel and created a translucent turquoise shield that took the bombarding mud. They exploded into dirty smoke that quickly fumigated the surroundings around the barrier.

'Figured he'd try that again.' Joey thought, remembering from his past experience with Venipede and Whirlipede's defenses. 'Now!' He balled his and glared ahead. "Quilladin, Needle Arm!"

With the murky smoke as cover, a paw pressed on the protective barrier, jumping off it like a springboard. Springing right over Whirlipede was none other than Quilladin, with his arm coted in green, spiky energy. He cried out as he brought it down on his real target – Floatzel.

With a loud grunt, Quilladin brought his arm down in a viscous swing right down on the weasel...only for him to abruptly vanish faster than the blink of an eye. Quilladin's attack slammed into the marshy grass, fading as he processed the trick with widened eyes. "What the...?"

"So fast...wait, don't tell me...!" Joey's eyes widened.

Kane sneered at his nemesis' epiphany. "Figured it out? Floatzel's Ability is Swift Swim. When it rains, his Speed gets a nice boost...so my advice to you is this: Don't blink."

Floatzel reappeared behind Quilladin, taking a striking position.

"Aqua Jet!"

Just as Quilladin barely registered the opponent behind him, he turned around, face to face with Floatzel in a jet of water with an expanded force. Quilladin was barely able to put his arms up before the jet blasted into him. Yet, despite even his type advantage, he was unable to hold his ground as the Floatzel pushed him back until he arched skywards and sent Quilladin off his feet, sliding into the wet grass on his back.

"Quilladin!" Joey snapped.

"You might want to watch your back too, if I were you." Kane chimed.

Joey's eyes widened. He realized what Kane meant. He quickly glanced over his shoulder to find a heel swinging in his direction. He leaned away to barely miss the sweeping Feint by Meowth. He was taken back by the backhanded maneuver.

Quilladin sat up, seeing his trainer in trouble. "Joey!"

Palpitoad looked back, looking equally as surprised as his fellow ally.

"Whirlipede, Bug Bite!" Whirlipede rolled across the wet ground after Palpitoad, the front lower shell glowing brightly, as did some of the poisonous spikes protruding.

Joey regained his focus, keeping a literal eye open on the situation as he rolled his neck. "Palpitoad, Aqua Ring!"

Palpitoad whipped back forward, realizing that Whirlipede was coming straight down for him. Moments before impact, several rings of water condensed from the surrounding rainfall and orbited around Palpitoad. His oversized bump on his head was bitten down upon by Whirlipede, causing him to feel an intense stinging sensation as he withdrew backwards. He slid across the ground, managing to catch himself without falling over.

"You alright, bud?" Joey asked.

"Nebojte sa, na chvíľu ma tam chytili. Už sa to viac nestane!" Palpitoad retorted, before a green energy wave restored some of his lost energy. The Aqua Ring was doing its job.

Kane chuckled. "What's the matter, Joey? You look to be in a bind. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll think of something ingenious to get yourself out of this mess."

Joey grunted, keeping the egg close. He knew Kane was trying to get under his skin. He was pincered by Meowth, who would have kept his focus off the battle. Then there was the matter of Floatzel's unimaginable speed, and Whirlipede's defenses. He needed to think smart to get rid of the problems before him.

---

Butterfree angrily chirped as he fluttered throughout the bungalow, chasing the puffy cloud in the bird's clutches. Decorations could be heard jingling and shattering as Dereece and Duncan were trying to get out of their restraints. The constant flutters and wingbeats sped over their heads every other second...and Duncan's nerves were on the verge of erupting.

"Duncan, you alright over there?" Dereece asked.

Duncan gave him his trademark scowl. "Hmph, don't worry. I'm fine." He looked over, realizing that Boldore was still in a daze and wobbling about from the other side of the room. "Hurry, scoot over here. We'll undo these knots while we still have time before the confusion wears off."

Dereece nodded in understanding. "Okay." Despite how they were both bound to their chairs from behind, they could still move their feet. They scooted out from the table and gradually pushed themselves towards the free end of the table. Butterfree dashed right over them, but they were too focused on meeting in the middle over the sound of the golden ornaments on the other side of the room breaking. Once their backs were towards each other, they proceeded to reach for any loops in the other's knots.

"How did he...get such a good knot in just...a short time?" Dereece grunted, panting from a knot his middle finger was unable to pull alone.

"Less talking, more pulling!" Duncan chided.

Meanwhile, in the other room, Staraptor kept flying, evading Butterfree as he passed by. Junior giggled as he seemed more amused than anything else. The Predator Pokémon looked down at him with a less than amused leer. "Junior, stop this! This isn't anything even remotely close to hilarious!"

Junior, of course, didn't listen. He giggled before an outline fixed around his frame. In a split second, he vanished once more from her clutches.

'Where did he warp off to this time?'

Butterfree chirped as he followed behind. His antennae suddenly stood on end when he felt something that slung onto his back. He looked back, his eyes nearly meeting the yellow eyes of Junior.

"Coooo!"

Butterfree yelped in such deep shock that he lost his balance. His momentum carried him in a spiral towards a nearby lamp. Junior cooed loudly before he suddenly jumped off to safety moments before a loud crashing sound was heard through the entire room.

Junior dropped to the ground without so much as a scratch. He looked back of out curiosity to find a twitching foot within a pile of broken pottery with dirt and a house plant littering the floor. He tilted his head in confusion, before clapping his hands in laughter.

Butterfree kicked plentifully until he was able to strew himself free of his crashlanding. He shook his head to rid of any excess dirt that may have gotten into his eyes. Once he was certain that enough was out, he looked down at the mess made, then towards Junior. This time, he was fuming.

"Freeeee~!" Butterfree flapped his wings violently, getting into Junior's face.

"Coooo?" Junior blinked, but still didn't seem to fully understand. It only infuriated Butterfree even more.

His patience absolutely thinned to the limit, Butterfree readied another kinetic blast...

FWOOSH!

A large shadow loomed behind him, holding up an intimidating stature. Both he and Junior paused as the air grew eerily cold around them. The butterfly kept his eyes down as he saw the shadows beneath expanding with large wings. Very slowly, he and Junior looked skywards, freezing at the intimidating red eyes of a very annoyed predator.

"Both of you. Enough of this. NOW!"

Her tone was deathly serious. Both Butterfree and Junior froze in shrilled fear of the predator's bloody call, with the former's antennae gradually dropping from deflating realization. There was no way he was going to jump the gun against something this intimidating.

"Coooo..." Junior fell silent, for once not looking at Staraptor all merrily like he normally would. He actually looked...worried.

"No more of this. I'm absolutely done with your shenanigans." She shot a death look at Butterfree. "You. You think that just because he's an infant, that means you can throw a fit at him? If you feel like you should be angry at anyone, be so at me." Her glare sharpened. "If so, then what do you have to say?"

"F-Free..." Butterfree shivered, unsure of what to say.

Staraptor shot a glare at Junior. "Junior. No more fooling around, do you understand me this time?" Her tone was strict and intimidating. This time she got the reaction she wanted: A very sheepish Junior looking down in regret. "Good."

"Just a...little more..." Dereece grunted, straining his fingers every time he pulled at the knots in Duncan's binds. He didn't expect knotwork to be so precise to where it would hurt to just pull at it. But eventually, he was able to pull at a string long enough to where he felt a knot becoming undone.

'Got it!' Feeling the binds becoming loose, Dereece and Duncan hastily pried the rope off the other until their wrists were free. "Alright, let's get out of here!"

Several meters away, Boldore's dazed state started to deteriorate. He regained his senses and shook his head. "Heh...? What just happened...?" He spotted Dereece and Duncan standing up with their hands free. "Hey, you two!"

"I need my weapon. Cover me!" Duncan explained, making a quick sprint into the next room.

"I said stop!" Boldore's gemstones on his body glowed orange, manifesting gemstones that he launched at Duncan, via Power Gem.

Dereece wasted no time in pulling out a Great Ball to counter. "Quick Stunfisk, Mud Shot!"

The Great Ball popped open, summoning Dereece's Stunfisk out in midair. The flat fish gave a hardy harrumph before his beak glowed bright orange and blasted out volleys of brown mud that the gemstones. The mud was successful in intercepting the stones, causing a murky explosion as cover for Duncan to duck away and roll into the next room for his search.

Boldore grunted, facing his new opponent head-on. Stunfisk flopped to the ground with his own battle-ready expression.

"Welp, here we go again. I'm counting on you, Stunfisk!" Dereece encourage.

"You got it, mate! I'm about to rock his world." Stunfisk snickered. "Heh, ore not...heh..."

Dereece shook his head. "Oi..."

---

Floatzel blitzed across the grassy field, keeping Quilladin from getting a clear view of him. Whenever he turned his head, an orange blur would always fly right past him. His eyes shifted left and right to tell if there was a pattern in his direction, but he couldn't get a solid read on his opponent's speed.

"Let's try this out..." Kane reached his arm out. "Floatzel, Ice Fang!"

Floatzel suddenly appeared behind Quilladin, alarming the Grass-type. His mouth opened wide; his fangs bared extending into icy spikes with bright blue aura around them as an extension.

Joey acted fast. "Palpitoad, pull Quilladin away now!"

"Mám ťa, počkaj!" At speeds unmatched, Palpitoad opened his mouth wide, shooting his long tongue out once more, this time to snake around Quilladin's arm and pull him away a split second faster than Floatzel, who chomped the air in his place.

Kane's eyes widened in shock at the speed of the execution. 'So fast!'

"Floatzel's not the only one with Swift Swim, Kane." Joey taunted back. "Quilladin...Pin Missile!"

In midair, Quilladin was in freefall by Palpitoad's tongue. His spines glowed before he flexed his body, firing four green streams with white orbs at the ends through the rain at Floatzel.

"Floatzel, counter with Swift!" Kane's command got through, as Floatzel jumped into the air with a glowing tail. He swung it around, sending waves of golden, sparkling stars at the ongoing projectiles that whistled.

Both attacks streamed into each other, meeting in the center in a bright flash that illuminated the skies. The dazzling stars and bright green hue of the Pin Missile mixed to make fireworks that made it too bright to visibly see straight for several seconds for the trainers. But Kane took the initiative.

"Poison Tail!"

Through the dazzling haze, a pair of back spikes glowed as Whirlipede rolled through the air, spinning with mad speed as he closed in on Quilladin, who was still in freefall from the momentum earlier. The insect hissed aggressively as he beamed closer.

"Palpitoad, Bubble Beam!"

Down below, Palpitoad caught sight of Whirlipede flying above his head. He took in a deep breath and put one foot forward, before leaning in and expelling a barrage of blue bubbles that had a larger mass and velocity to them, like bullets. They beamed skywards at a rate that outmatched Whirlipede, hammering the surprised curlipede from below with explosive bursts of force. The skies were engulfed in explosions once more that lasted several seconds. Palpitoad and everyone watched as Whirlipede shot down with a pained cry, slamming into the grass in the distance with a wet thud.

"Huh?" Floatzel looked back, surprised by his teammate's sudden impact. Joey took full advantage of this to attack.

"Now Palpitoad, grab Quilladin one more time!"

Palpitoad complied, opening his mouth one more time to slick his long, sticky tongue around Quilladin. He jumped into the air, dragging Quilladin with him.

"Needle Arm!"

Palpitoad whirled around, gathering momentum of his Swift Swim speed to give Quilladin a swift burst of speed through the air. He whipped his ally and shot him at Floatzel, who looked back to see a green bullet streamline at Mach speed right at him.

"Open wide~!" Quilladin brought his arm back, brightening it up with spiky green energy before bolting it forward. "GRAH!"

BAM!

The impact was straight into Floatzel's chest, creating an airwave that expanded across the vicinity. It was no doubt a critical hit. Quilladin followed through, sending Floatzel flying through the rain with a pained cry, much to Kane's horror.

"No~!" Kane cried out.

Floatzel crashed into the wet ground right beside Whirlipede, sloshing about on his back. They both winced as the pain from their attacks left much to be desired. Quilladin landed several meters in front of Palpitoad, who had a green aura indicate his health restoring by Aqua Ring.

'No time for rest! Gotta keep them on the defensive position!' Joey thought. "Quilladin, Leech Seed on Whirlipede!" Quilladin spread his legs apart, inhaling before expelling out a wave of seeds that bolted into Whirlipede's direction.

"Hurry! Protect!" Kane commanded. In an instant, Whirlipede was back up by his trainer's desperate tone change. He faced Quilladin and the oncoming seeds heading his way and brought up another turquoise forcefield that took the seeding attack. He watched as they dispersed through the shield with no results.

Joey glanced over his shoulder. He most certainly didn't forget about Meowth. She jetted after him, her foot sticking out for another Feint. This time, he used a forearm and blocked the attack right before it could make contact with his face. He sidestepped to regain his balance as Meowth landed on the ground.

"You're only making this harder for yourself, you know that right?" she chastised. "It's bad enough that my fur is wet, but now my feet are tainted with your filthy drenched skin. It's disgusting!"

Joey bared his teeth. 'I can't concentrate like this!'

With the cover, Floatzel was able to gradually rebound from that last shot. Despite the heavy toll he sustained, he was still able to stand. "Aqua Jet on Palpitoad!"

"Hyper Voice!"

Floatzel surrounded himself in a jet of water at the same time Palpitoad's bumps started vibrating intensely. As Floatzel beamed in his direction at sonic speed, he inhaled and expelled a loud, boisterous soundwave and an earsplitting shriek that traveled across the vicinity. Whirlipede was already protected by his barrier, keeping the soundwaves from damaging him. But Floatzel, on the other hand, beamed straight into them, causing a stalemate in the middle before a massive shockwave of mist erupted. It sent an even bigger wake across the grass as Palpitoad slid a few feet back.

Floatzel ended up jumping in the air again, showing no physical damage from the breached stalemate. "Swift!" His tail glowed brightly, sending waves of glossy, golden stars down once more onto Palpitoad and Quilladin.

"Pin Missile"

Quilladin slid his heels apart and cried out as his glowing spikes launched streaming projectiles once more. Three missiles this time bolted and struck the barrage of stars, causing yet another dazzling explosion of mixed gold and green to rain down from above.

Floatzel landed next to Whirlipede, just as Palpitoad's Aqua Ring restored more energy. The rain gradually came to a halt around them as sunlight began breaching through the clouds above.

"The rain stopped..." Joey realized. The egg suddenly glowed brightly again, getting his attention. "Not now...!"

"Go, Meowth!" Kane urged.

Meowth hissed as she sprung into the air behind Joey. Her fur crackled with electricity, a sign that she was going to use her Thunderbolt. Joey's eyes widened at the bold choice of an attack and quickly created a barrier.

"Barrier-Make: Dome!"

Joey created a dome-shaped barrier around him, guarding from the blast of lightning that struck and dispersed into several tiny bolts around him. He dared not remove the barrier under any means. If he did, it would mean not only he would get electrocuted, but so would the egg.

Just as the flashing lightning dispersed, Joey saw that Meowth was nowhere to be seen. His eyes widened in realization. 'She used the lightning to keep me from seeing what she was up to!'

By the time that registered, a heel planted against his barrier from behind, dispersing it. He pivoted and turned towards the front just when Meowth used Feint yet again, planting her other heel in Joey's face. The impact made him fall onto his back into the dampened earth. As he fell back, the egg he was clinging onto slipped out of his hold.

"GAH! The face?! Are you serious?! Right in the moneymaker, man!" Joey exasperated.

The egg flailed in midflight, making it the perfect time for Meowth to spring up and catch it.

"The egg! Snap!"

"Excellent job, Meowth. Somebody will be getting their pay today." Kane chimed. "Now, get back over here!"

Meowth beamed with pride, huffing to herself. "Yeah, yeah. I hear ya." With her soft paws, she held the egg close to herself and darted back for her trainer.

Joey gnashed his teeth before reaching out. "Palpitoad! Grab her!" Palpitoad complied, opening his mouth one more time to expel his long, sticky tongue in Meowth's direction.

"Not so fast! Floatzel, Ice Fang!"

Just when it looked like the tongue was about to snatch Meowth from behind, Floatzel burst out of nowhere, his fangs covered in thick, sharp ice with icy aura extensions. He snapped down on the tongue, immediately sending a jolt of pain through Palpitoad at such a sensitive point.

Kane's eyes narrowed. "Shouldn't expose your soft parts so frequently now."

Floatzel lifted his head, dragging Palpitoad up by his partially frozen tongue. He made quick work in gathering enough momentum to bring his head down, driving Palpitoad downwards like a hammer onto Quilladin. The two gagged when their bodies collided and picked up slosh and dirt from the surroundings.

With cover provided, Meowth hustled along the grassy field with the egg. She closed in on Kane with a dark snicker at her personal glory...until her face struck something hard that had her reeling. She staggered a few feet back and shook herself from the shock to find herself standing before what looked like turquoise glass.

"Heh...?" She turned about, seeing many other barriers surroundings her from all sides in the shape of a prism.

Despite the pain in his face, Joey was able to get to a knee and keep an arm out for his Barrier-Make: Prism around Meowth and the egg. "You're not going anywhere." He growled.

"That's true...but now you're open." Kane pointed out.

Joey's breath hitched. Whirlipede hissed as he sped past Quilladin and Palpitoad to get closer to their trainer. His tail spikes glowed to signal another Poison Tail heading his way.

Finally coming around, Quilladin looked back with shock. "Joey, watch out!"

Joey stood there, bracing himself as Whirlipede rolled in with a purple tail lashing.

---

Boldore manifested more gemstones, firing another round of Power Gem across the wrecked room.

"Stunfisk, use Mud Bomb!" Dereece shouted.

"Roger that, mate!" Stunfisk flopped onto his yellow tailfin, taking in a quick inhale before reeling forward with a gargantuan muddy ball fired from his beak. The gemstones and the huge ball of mud met in the middle, creating another dirty explosion that engulfed the room.

On Boldore's end, he stood perfectly still and unaware that the Mud Bomb's force was just a little stronger over his Power Gem. The Ground-type attack continued its course, though much of its force was reduced that the impact did nothing more than buffer Boldore. He grunted as he reeled from that attack, a blue aura surrounding him briefly to indicate Mud Bomb's secondary effect of accuracy loss.

"Heh, looks like there's mud in your eyes, eh?" Stunfisk teased, his beak making a smile.

Boldore grunted, not very amused by his opponent's use of jokes. "Funny...but let's you laugh after this!" He leaned forward, expelling a stream of mud from his hollow eyes, via Mud-Slap. The streaking mud slicked through the air, landing a blast full of mud into Stunfisk's face. The Trap Pokémon yelped at the super effective attack obscuring his vision.

"Stunfisk!" Dereece exclaimed.

A blue aura engulfed Stunfisk's body, indicating an accuracy loss. "Now who has mud in their eyes?" Boldore quipped.

Stunfisk's nerves suddenly pitched. "Oi, I be the only one making the one-liners here. That's fighting...dirty. Ha..."

Boldore was anything but amused. Rather than feed his opponent's inconvenient taste in dry humor, he stood perfectly still as a metallic sheen spread over his body, turning his skin to iron briefly, via Iron Defense. A thick, red aura indicated a sharp Defense increase. "Oi, don't make this harder for me!" Stunfisk yelped.

Hundreds of miles out, Kevin lifted his head. "That's what she said!" He quipped, earning confused looks from the other Blue Pegasus mages. "Huh, could have sworn somebody said something..."

'Gotta stall while Duncan finds his weapon...' Dereece looked around for anything useful. He saw the table was already a mess and turned over. The chairs and rope were strewn about across the room. And much of the decorations were lying about, some of whom were in shattered remains. Nothing too useful to buy him time.

He looked up, seeing that despite the damage, the chandelier and the room's lights were still on. 'That's it!' He hastily turned back towards the battle. "Alright Stunfisk, time to go crazy! Use Discharge!"

Stunfisk grunted. He charged himself up with an electrifying mass until he brightly smiled. With a loud cry, he fired Discharge everywhere, channeling stray bolts throughout the room. They struck the walls, the debris, even the ceiling. Some of the stray jolts went in Boldore's direction, but unfortunately, he was shy of a clean shot that went right over his head.

The Discharge struck the lighting above, shattering the light lacrima into shrapnel that fell to the ground. With the fixtures completely gone, the lighting completely flatlined, leaving the only source of light being the other room. And even then, it was much too dark to see.

"What the...?!" Boldore looked around, surprised by everything suddenly turning dark. "I didn't get that much mud in my eyes..."

'Hurry up, Duncan. We've bought you this much time, what's taking you so long?'

---

In another part of the bungalow, the darkened hue didn't go unnoticed by Duncan. He looked up at the ceiling, grunting at the lack of lighting to help him look. However, he could still partially get his surroundings. For the time being, he would have to make do with this and take it that Dereece was doing his part in covering for him.

He rushed for the nearest closet door, but was disappointed to find that it was only cleaning supplies. He moved to another door, finding that it was actually meant for Kane's bedroom. He half-expected a variety of weird torture devices he had planned for his so-called "archnemesis", but was taken back by how normal everything was.

The more he thought about it, the more he refused to buy it. Unlike the other room, this one had a dim light in a red lacrima lamp, allowing him to see the small work desk with a long sheet of paper of what seemed like a diagram of schemes and layouts of plans he had. But he wasn't interested in such petty schemes. Instead, he found himself drawn towards the set of double doors to his closet.

'There!' He rushed over and gripped the handles and pulled the doors open...and what he saw far outweighed any sense of sanity. 'What the hell...?'

Rather than it being clothes or personal items like any other closet, it ended up being a storage space that had pictures of Joey strewn everywhere. There were some photographs of him smiling, some of him in maid outfits, and even some in his swim trunks. Shots of him varied from side views, to back shots, to even some of his hairstyle alone. There were some even focused on his booty. And if that wasn't bad enough, there were shots of him sleeping in his bed, cuddling with his Nic and Vanessa plushies. Hell, there were even some pages taken out of Sorcerer's Weekly with Joey on the cover, winking and posing at the viewers. He recognized it as the issue that ranked Joey number one on top 10 fashionable bachelors. He still couldn't believe that he actually remembered that.

Duncan furrowed his brow. He didn't know if he should feel sorry for this delusional man...or disturbed to know that he would have such a hobby to go after his Captain like this. When he looked down, he noticed near his foot was another photo of Joey...fixed with him dressing up in a feminine dress with a black tie around his waist.

Even though this wasn't his business, he felt a shiver run down his spine. 'This guy...has definite issues.' He eerily looked around for anything that was out of place. His eyes immediately fell onto a silver, metallic pole that he recognized as his weapon.

'There!' He took the pole and left the room...but not before looking back one more time at the closet. To avoid anymore nightmare fuel, he chose to slowly walk back, pulling out a Poke Ball and Ultra Ball.

'If this will help me sleep at night.' He sighed.

---

Boldore grunted as he was unable to see his opponent in the darkness. The mud in his eyes certainly didn't help him in that regard. He had to rely on his prominent trait to get through this – his sense of sound.

"Now Stunfisk, Camouflage!" Dereece commanded.

"Alright, let's see how you handle this!" Very slowly, Stunfisk's skin pigment faded to match the rug he was on. In no time, he was faded into the surroundings without so much as a trace.

Boldore heard him say that directly in front. "I heard that!" His crystals glowed bright orange as he charged up his next attack. "Rock Blast!"

"Oh, geez!" Dereece yelped.

Boldore's stony forehead glowed bright silver before he projected an imprint of it ahead. Four stony projectiles fired in Stunfisk's direction. But with Stunfisk camouflaged – on top of being flat – he watched in silence as the energy rocks went overhead. Dereece yelped as he squirmed out of the way of the attacks that ended up blasting into the wall. Dry wall ruptured, and a stray shot ended up taking out a table leg. A chair was blown up, and any decorations that were mounted still had been demolished by the force of the attack.

As dust kicked up, Dereece coughed and waved it away. He looked towards a wall before deciding to upscale it. Facing sideways, he glared at Boldore at the safe angle. "Stunfisk, Mud Shot!"

With dust as cover, a barrage of mud balls suddenly blasted out of nowhere. The barrage struck Boldore head-on, engulfing him in a muddy explosion on the other side of the room. He let out a quick yelp before grinding his orange spikes along the floor to a halt. He leaned forward, grunting heavily as a blue aura engulfed him to indicate a Speed reduction.

"Nice one." Dereece praised.

Boldore groaned as that last attack left him for a loop. He shook his head and turned into the direction where he heard Dereece's voice. He fired another Mud-Slap that streamed not at Stunfisk, but the trainer instead. The attack landed its mark straight in Dereece's face.

"GYAH! Not in the eyes! Not in the eyes!" He covered his muddy eyes, losing focus of his magic for a moment to drop to the ground below. "Oof!"

"Oi, you alright?!" Stunfisk questioned.

Dereece used his dark blue vest to wipe the mud from around his eyes. "Ugh...yeah, I think so...oh." Once Dereece regained his vision, he was met with the sight of gemstones charging up around Boldore, aiming at him. "Oh no-!"

"Torterra, Wood Hammer!"

Boldore, Stunfisk, and Dereece all turned towards the direction of the voice. In an instant, a roar was heard before a bright green energy in the shape of an extended log beamed straight into Boldore's side, pushing him into the wall on the other side of the room. The impact shuddered the entire room, leaving Dereece reeling from the attack's wake.

When he uncovered, he was taken back when he saw the energy log fade, revealing Boldore sprawled along the broken, indented wall with spirals in his eyes. He slowly stood back up to realize that his opponent had been defeated.

"What the...?"

"You seriously had that much trouble over a Rock-type?" The sarcastic snipe drew Dereece towards the other room. There, Duncan stood, with both Torterra and Magmortar by his side; the former having red static engulfing his body as recoil.

"Duncan, did you find your weapon?" Dereece asked.

"Hmph, what does it look like?" Duncan harrumphed, tapping his own shoulder the metal pole sat on.

Stunfisk gradually faded back into view, looking at Torterra. "Oi, I never wood have seen that coming!" He chuckled hardily. "Hahahahaha! Looks like he'll be sleeping like a...log. Ha!"

Torterra didn't seem fazed by his jokes in the slightest. Stunfisk's laughing turned to a chuckle, before devolving to a meek giggle, eventually turning to silence. "...oi, I getcha. Thanks."

"So, where's the Captain?" Duncan asked.

"Probably still outside battling Kane. We need to go help!" Dereece insisted. Just as he was about to turn, he saw two silhouettes fly into view. He yelped in shock, but when they got close enough, he recognized them as Staraptor and Butterfree.

"Dereece, what's going on here?" Staraptor asked.

"It's a long story..." He groaned, shaking his head. "But what about you? What the heck are you doing out here?"

A giggle was heard behind Staraptor. She looked over her shoulder, staring at Junior who held on with a bright smile. "That's...a long story as well."

---

A sturdy barrier blocked Whirlipede's purple glowing tails from advancing even an inch closer to Joey, who was but a few inches behind the barrier he created at the last second. Whirlipede hissed in Joey's face, his eyes sharpening with deep aggression.

With no barrier to hold back Meowth, she was free to advance towards Kane. Quilladin and Palpitoad were still reeling from that last harsh blow, even though Aqua Ring recovered some of the latter's health; it was still a critical hit nonetheless that left him flinching.

'Palpitoad flinched. If I don't act soon...!' Joey had to think fast. What was something he could use that even the likes of Kane wouldn't expect? His eyes widened at something he remembered. 'Wait a minute!'

"Please, Joey. Let's just think about this for a moment, shall we? Why wouldn't I try for such a matter? I mean, it's the most logical when you think about it. In chess, to get to the king, you must take out the pawns. And without the pawns, what good would that king be."

'Without a pawn, what good would that king be, huh?' Joey shifted his gaze towards Whirlipede as he backed off. He rattled his antennae as a warning to him to not make any advances or he'll be sorry. He, on the other hand, had other plans.

Meowth finally arrived at Kane's feet, presenting him with the egg. "Here, you happy? I hope it was worth it." She harrumphed.

Kane took the egg from her clutches, holding it up to check for any signs of damage. When he didn't see any visible marks, he smirked. "Well done, Meowth. This was well worth the trouble."

The egg glowed brightly again, fading in and out on a constant basis. The more it glowed, the warmer it became. Even with it being partially wet, Kane could still see water evaporating off the egg's shell.

"Hmph, well Joey, it seems that you have reached another..." When he turned back towards his archnemesis to flaunt his usurp, his demeanor completely deflated to shock when he saw something that struck his nerves.

"Another what, Kane?" Joey questioned, raising a brow. His expression was serious as he had an arm out towards Whirlipede, another prism-shaped barrier trapping the enemy's Pokémon inside. The space was just enough to give Whirlipede some elbow room to turn, but not nearly enough to jump or roll.

Whirlipede hissed his shock and horror aloud. He whipped towards Kane, screeching for him to reach out for help.

"Whirlipede!" Kane stepped forward, but Joey held out his other hand.

"Not so fast there, buddy. Neither you nor your Pokémon even think about making another move." Joey threatened. "Or the bug is gonna feel a little stiff." To prove his point, he condensed the barrier by a few inches, giving Whirlipede less space to move.

Kane gasped and took a step back. Immediately he withdrew his earlier flaunt. "N-now Joey...let's be reasonable here..."

"What was it you said before, Kane?" Joey hummed. "Now I know I'm deaf and all, but I'm pretty sure that you said something like, 'In chess, to get to the king, you must take out the pawns. And without the pawns, what good would that king be.', something like that?" He smirked. "After all, it is the most logical choice, isn't it?"

Kane's brain flipped off. The compromise he insisted on Joey earlier rung through his head like a bell, shutting off every nerve in his system. He just stood there, puzzled and processing the turnaround brought upon him.

Seeing Kane's shock written all over his face, Joey continued. "But of course, I consider myself reasonable. So how about it, the egg and our space...for your Whirlipede. Which is it?" He gradually gripped the air, suppressing even more of the prison around Whirlipede as the insect hissed in a panic.

"Whirlipede, no~!" Kane panicked, before leering at Joey. "Gnnngh...well played, Joey. Looks like you've beaten me at my own game."

Joey wasn't sure if Kane was serious, so he gripped the air slowly to shrink a few inches from Whirlipede's prison, making the walls touch the tips if his antennae. "Okay, okay! Fine! Alright...you can have the egg back, just please let him go!"

Joey held out his hand. "The egg first, Kane. No tricks."

Kane relaxed himself. He started past Floatzel and Joey's Pokémon. They watched in anticipation as the trainer stepped forward to Joey, presenting him with the glowing egg. "Here, as promised."

Joey nodded. He reached out to accept the egg when a tail smacked across his face. "I'll take that!" In a gray blur, Meowth snatched the egg from Kane's palms and landed on the ground. She whipped around, holding the egg close with static crackling around her body.

"Meowth?! What do you think you're doing?!" Kane snapped.

"What does it look like? I'm offering you an even better compromise here. You may not harm such precious cargo, but you never said I wouldn't." She sniped, the static getting faster. "Now, you can either let my ally go, or you go home with a hard-boiled fried omelet. It's your call."

Whirlipede hissed at Meowth, his sides rattling back and forth along his barrier prison. Meowth shot him a look. "Oh hush, I'm doing you and my trainer a favor, aren't I? Besides, I'm tired of beating around the bush like you always do. You want something done right...do it yourself!" She jumped into the air, her foot coming down with a Feint on Whirlipede's prison. The prism dispersed upon impact, and Whirlipede was struck in the face, putting him on his side.

"Whirlipede!" Kane snapped.

"There, see? Problem solved. Want results? Well you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Or in this case..." She recharged lightning around her fur. "Just the one."

Everyone gasped and froze in place. The situation's left turn suddenly was brought to a halt when the egg's constant glowing finally settled on a fixed, bright glow.

"Čo sa deje teraz?!" Palpitoad croaked.

"I don't know what's going on, either! But it looks like the egg is up to something!" Quilladin quipped.

"Ye-ow! That's hot! Hot, hot, hot!" Meowth danced the egg around, until it became too much to hold onto. She sat it down onto the grass, immediately backing off afterwards to blow on her burnt paws.

Across the grassy clearing, the front door opened to Kane's home. Dereece, Duncan, Staraptor, Junior, and Butterfree exited to notice a profound light peering from the area ahead.

"What's going on?" Dereece questioned, his partially blurry vision deterring him.

Duncan shot a glare ahead. "Looks like the egg is starting to hatch."

The light shined bright enough to where it was like staring at a sun. Joey put up a barrier to shield from the radiation the heat gave off. Everyone covered their eyes as the marshy ground gradually heated until the water had completely evaporated. For a whole minute, nobody could see anything until the surface of the egg was heard cracking apart. The shell splattered apart in energy twinkles that faded into the air to reveal what was inside.

Joey grunted as he opened an eye. "What the...!" His eyes widened at the faint light dispersing around the egg's creature. "No way..."

Slouching in the grass, was what looked like a white, fuzzy, larva creature that was medium-sized. She had what looked like a brownish-tan body with six, stubby legs that supported her. Around her head were five, bright orange, fiery horns that had the same color as the sun.

Dereece stepped down from the porch, looking shocked at the sight. "It...it hatched." He whispered in awe.

Duncan furrowed his brow. "So it was a Pokémon egg all along." He eyed the larva skeptically. "Not just any egg...a Larvesta."

Joey pulled out his PokeDex, deducing the creature as something familiar. The screen showed the larva and began analyzing it.

"Larvesta, the Torch Pokémon. It protects itself with flame. Long years ago, people believed Larvesta had a nest on the sun."

Joey noticed something different between what the screen showed and the Larvesta in front of him. 'That's strange. The Larvesta on this screen has red horns, so why does this one have that color...wait a minute! Of course!' He thought back to that shiny Magnemite he fought back in Alvarez. 'Yeah, I get it now! It's a shiny Larvesta!'

Small muffles were heard from Larvesta until she slouched up. Her eyes gradually opened, revealing a beautiful emerald shade that left everyone in a brief trance. Her vision was blurry for a short while until she blinked. What she saw first was a bright light that brought about her curiosity. She faced the sky, more accurately, the bright, burning circle that left her transfixed in awe. The first thing that came out of her covered mouth was a very soft coo of curiosity.

Joey was left completely stunned by the display. A new life had been brought onto this world, and he actually helped in taking care of it until it finally came out. He couldn't help but feel partially proud of himself for proving everyone who doubted him wrong.

Larvesta cooed again as she looked down as the grass. The unknown substance was so soft to her stubby feet that it tickled. She got down and rolled onto her back, giggling at the feeling of it against her white fur. She squirmed and tossed herself around until she lifted her head to see more of her surroundings.

"Aaaaahhh...?" To her curiosity, she saw several unknown creatures looking at her all at the same time. They had many shapes and sizes, with much of their gazes fixed on her. She tilted her head in confusion at them.

"What do we do now...?" Quilladin whispered to Joey. The Captain was left at a loss for what to say in response.

Kane looked over at Whirlipede, who just got back up. He faced Larvesta once more, an idea coming to mind. "Pssst." He whispered towards Whirlipede. He looked over to see Kane to signal for him to talk to it. Getting the incentive, Whirlipede's eyes widened before he followed along.

HISS!

Larvesta heard a strange cry that grabbed her attention. She looked over as Whirlipede moved closer, his antennae rattling as he communicated with her. Larvesta cooed and chimed back, though her tone was softer, and more innocent.

'What's it saying?' Joey worried, shooting Kane a glance. The look on his face was all the proof Joey needed to know. 'Wait! He's using Whirlipede to reason since he's a Bug-type.'

Whirlipede hissed again, to which Larvesta hummed in wonder. She looked towards Kane in curiosity, blinking until she saw him crouch and extend his arms out as a welcome.

"Just as Whirlipede says, I won't hurt you. I will take great care of you." Kane persuaded.

Larvesta hummed, unsure if she trusted this strange looking man. But when she looked at Whirlipede nodding in confirmation, she steadily turned herself and started putting one foot ahead of the other in his direction.

"Yes, that's it. Nice and steady now..."

'He's really using her newborn innocence to get to her! I gotta think of a way to get her attention, but how?' Joey furrowed his brow as he thought briefly.

Larvesta stumbled about, drawing closer towards a smiling Kane. His cheap façade was completely fooling her. As she walked though, she seemed to be having a rhythm. She bounced on one foot before stepping onto the next, where she bounced again. It was like she was...

Joey's eyes widened at the umpteenth epiphany he had today. 'That's it!' He turned towards the doorway to the bungalow and spotted Dereece. "Dereece, Boombox me! Now!"

Dereece blinked as he processed Joey's command. He quickly understood and pulled out Boombox, adjusting the playlist inside to a specific song in mind.

"That's it, just a little more to your sweet Papa Kane." Kane chimed, ushering the jumpy Larvesta further. "That's it...just a little more..."

Larvesta cooed as she raised her stubby arms up to Kane.

[Laurie Burgress – Everybody Groove]

Synthetic notes played that immediately brought Larvesta to a halt mere feet before Kane. Her emerald eyes perked up at the rhythmic beat that grabbed her and Kane's attention. The trainer looked around to see where that music was coming from, soon realizing that it was from Dereece.

"What the-?!"

Joey's smirk return. "...everybody groove now~!"

Quilladin and Palpitoad looked at each other in confusion, but it soon dawned onto them what Joey was up to. They watched their trainer swing his hips back and forth while rolling his shoulders. Joey strode towards the side and turned around, facing away as a shiver ran up his spine. He rolled his neck and shoulders and abruptly looked over his shoulder.

"Pump the bass!" He mouthed the lyrics.

The music picked up from synthesizers leading to drums giving off a deep beat. Every time that bass throbbed, the boombox's speakers pulsed just as much. The tune made Palpitoad's bumps vibrate as he danced along with Quilladin and Joey in synchronized fashion. Quilladin and Joey mirrored the other's movements, whereas Palpitoad proceeded with shifty footwork.

Kane looked on, completely bewildered by this display. "What are you doing?!"

"What's it look like?" Joey chimed, his head reeled back as he moonwalked backwards. "We're..." He stomped, turning it into a zero-turn radius spin. He and Quilladin spun until they both landed on a knee, facing Larvesta with fingers pointed at her. "Giving her a warm welcome!"

Larvesta blinked in her own wonders. Her emerald eyes got the clear picture of Palpitoad and Quilladin shaking their tails at her. Her fixation fell onto something that she felt from behind. When she looked back, she cooed at the sight of her own behind moving in rhythm with the beat.

It was strange. Very strange. She never felt this way before, yet for some reason, it was like her body knew how to act on tune. And oddly enough, she was liking it. The way her frame was bouncing about to the music, the way that bass struck to get the blood pumping; all this was like a huge rush to her. But in a good way.

"Look at you...when you hatch, I hope you have a big smile to greet this world. Because I know it'll warm everybody up."

Larvesta's eyes snapped towards Joey. There was no doubt that encouraging voice came from now. She knew exactly who was it that was raising her.

"Aaaaaahh~!" Larvesta cooed brightly, her stubby hands reaching up towards Joey with a warm smile hidden underneath her fur.

"She...she remembers." Joey gasped. "She remembers me! Haha~! Yes! Ye~s!"

Larvesta shook her rump with the ongoing song, taking rhythmic steps towards Joey and away from a confused Kane. "W-wait, where are you going?!" He called out, but Larvesta didn't listen to him. "No! Come back to Papa!" He sharply turned towards Floatzel. "Floatzel, Whirlipede, quick! Stop her!"

"Right!" Floatzel rushed for Larvesta, with Whirlipede rolling after.

Joey held up his forearm. "Come to Mommy, Larvesta!"

Larvesta cooed loudly before responding to Joey. She spat sticky, silky thread from her mouth that clung onto Joey's forearm, via String Shot. She reeled herself through the air towards him, completely missed by Floatzel and Whirlipede when they crashed where she was originally. Joey caught her in one arm, holding her in a secured position, disregarding the dense blue aura surroundings him.

"You okay, Larvesta?" He asked.

"Aaah." The newborn insect cooed loudly as she nuzzled herself in Joey's surprisingly soft fabric. His coat was so warm and fuzzy, much like her own.

Joey smiled. "That's a relief-!" He was cut off by something that struck his face for the umpteenth time. He fell over, losing hold of Larvesta in the process. She fell onto her feet, watching in horror as her mother figure fell into the grass hard.

"You humans never learn, do you?" Meowth taunted, revealing herself as the attacker.

"Aaaah~?" Larvesta scuttled towards Joey's head, looking down with anxious eyes. That last blow looked like it hurt. She felt a shadow loom over her and turned towards Meowth, who snarked with a sassy posture.

"Relax, newbie. He ain't dead. Like that could kill anybody anyway. Now, how's about you come over here for now until he wakes up?"

Larvesta hissed defensively at her. Her fiery horns lit up before she expelled very small pellets of orange sparks at the attacker. Meowth stood still and took the attack, which dispersed without so much as a scratch. Larvesta cooed in shock.

"Please, rookie. You aren't nearly that experienced yet." She held up her claws. "Maybe I should show you how the big leagues play-ah!" Suddenly, she buffered from a sudden burst of flames from her body. "GAH!" She yelped in shock as she backpedaled. "What the-?!"

A low groan came from Joey as he stirred back up. He saw Meowth writhing in agony from the dispersing flames around her body. 'Is that a burn condition?'

Meowth staggered to a halt, shaking her head to rid of any wear she had before. "Okay, now I'm just pissed!" Static flared around her body. "I don't care if you're a newbie at all! You wrecked my gorgeous fur! I'm gonna make you pay for-!"

Before she could finish, a pair of talons swooped her up from out of nowhere. It was faster than the eye could blink! By the time she processed this, she looked down at her arms, seeing sharp claws threatening to clutch clean through her if she moved.

"Not on my watch." Meowth felt a shiver run up her spine when she slowly looked up. When she met the intense, red glare of Staraptor, her Intimidate being effective would be an understatement. Her periwinkle fur gradually lost color at the sight of this predator with a puffy cloud cooing over her shoulder.

"Staraptor?" Joey blinked.

"Focus, Joey! The battle is still going!"

Joey nodded. He didn't forget. "Right!" He kneeled and picked up Larvesta, putting her right behind him. "Watch and learn, Larvesta. This is how your Mommy and brothers takes care of business."

Quilladin and Palpitoad shifted their focus forward, ready to finish this battle.

Kane's glare was a blazing red. He was furious for a number of reasons – one being his Meowth's insufficient behavior. He would have to correct that later. But right now, he had to take what he wanted. "You're going to pay. Floatzel, Rain Dance!"

Floatzel spread his arms out and lifted them into the air above. He expelled a loud cry that summoned more storm clouds that gathered overhead. Once more, rain started coming down, quickly dampening the battlefield.

"Aaaah~!" Larvesta fussed with this strange, wet substance that she didn't seem to like very much. It was making her fur damp and heavy. She squealed loudly as she shook her head to rid of this accursed stuff ruining her,

Joey reached down, putting up a hemisphere-shaped barrier over Larvesta's head. "Stay under there. You won't get wet if you do." He instructed.

"Whirlipede, use Bug Bite on Quilladin!" Kane instructed. Whirlipede hissed as he rolled into Quilladin his front lower-half glowing with makeshift fangs extending far larger than normal. The bright green aura around his body was a clear indication to Joey what this meant.

'His Swarm Ability is up. It must have been because Meowth's Feint did enough to lower his health.' He had to think fast. Taking it head-on would be a suicide otherwise. "Palpitoad, drag Quilladin away!"

Palpitoad understood, snaking his tongue towards Quilladin's direction. Floatzel reappeared out of nowhere in time to get to the appendage.

"Did you forget what I said earlier? You shouldn't expose your weak spots so repeatedly!" Kane quipped. "Ice Fang!"

Joey's eyes narrowed. 'I didn't forget.' He watched as Floatzel's fangs glowed bright blue and readied to chomp down. "Now, muzzle him!"

"Je čas zavrieť ústa!"

Floatzel snapped his fangs down on Palpitoad's tongue, taking the damage yet again. His tongue felt disturbingly numb, but unlike last time, he powered through, snaking the length beyond the mouth around the muzzle, keeping Floatzel's mouth trapped on the tongue.

"What?!" Kane yelped.

Palpitoad pivoted in the grass, dragging Floatzel around like a ragdoll. "Čo sa deje okolo...prichádza okolo!" He turned fully and whipped Floatzel through the air, colliding with Whirlipede's side before he was about to reach Quilladin.

BAM!

A harsh force struck Whirlipede's side, completely throwing him onto his side with a crude thud. Floatzel was unbound and laid atop of Whirlipede, dazed with a possible concussion.

"Bupta!" Palpitoad praised, his tail lifting with pride.

"Nice save!" Quilladin smirked.

Larvesta looked on, her emerald eyes dazzling with awe over the battle in front of her. She watched as the enemy Pokémon were struggling to stand on their feet. Quilladin and Palpitoad stood side-by-side, awaiting the commands needed to get the job done.

"Quilladin, Pin Missile!" Quilladin's spikes glowed brightly before he cried out. Five orbs in green energy streamed from him after his foes.

"Palpitoad, Hyper Voice!" Palpitoad's bumps on his body vibrated intensely, channeling a strong pulse that he bellowed out. His mouth opened wide as he expelled a loud, violent soundwave that echoed across the area, pulsing in Whirlipede and Floatzel's direction.

The projectiles and soundwaves surged towards the targets at an alarming rate. Thanks to Palpitoad's Swift Swim, the speed of his soundwaves picked up the missiles, making them move faster to match said speed. Both Whirlipede and Floatzel only had a moment to look back before their pupils shrank. Everything went white for a split-second before a loud explosion engulfed the middle of the battlefield. A shockwave rippled across the terrain that made Joey and Kane cover themselves. The explosion sent Whirlipede and Floatzel flying across the grass into Kane, who was unable to stop their momentum.

Staraptor yanked up Meowth, pulling her closer to her face. "So...you like to hurt young ones, do you?"

"W-wait! Let's just talk about-!"

Staraptor didn't give her a chance to finish before she kicked her talons up, sending Meowth flying through the air. She bolted into the sky, making sure Junior was secured in the process. She hovered above Meowth, her wings glowing for a powerful Steel Wing in a backwing smack. The force sent an intense, vertical air ripple that reached the ground. Meowth immediately jettisoned into Kane's back and pushed him and his unconscious Whirlipede and Floatzel back in Joey's direction.

Joey nonchalantly sidestepped, allowing both him and Larvesta to watch them fly past them and crash into the ground. They saw the dust quickly dissipate in the rain, revealing all of Kane's Pokémon sprawled over him with spirals in their eyes.

"Ooooh..." Kaze dizzily stirred up, before he heard an uncomfortable click from below. He looked down and saw that he was sitting directly on the trap panel that The Freaks fell through earlier. "...oh no."

The hatch suddenly opened beneath, allowing Kane and his entourage to fall through. "I'M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU YET, JOEY HAYCLIFF! NOT YET AT LEAST...!" His voice gradually faded as he fell deeper through the hole, until he was gone.

Joey watched as the hatched slammed shut, before he and everyone turned towards the bungalow to hear rumbling and thuds that exploded into a loud crash into the dining area. The sound of furniture and glass shattering could be heard from the front entrance where Dereece and Duncan stood. The former cringed at the sounds before choosing to slowly close the door.

"Well, looks like another round's come to an end." Dereece sighed.

Junior and Larvesta giggled.

Everyone reconvened as the storm clouds gradually faded, revealing the sunlight that shined brightly through the fading water vapor. As soon as it all lifted, they felt the tension around them finally settle.

"You guys rocked it, nice work." Joey praised Quilladin and Palpitoad. He held up his hand for a high-five, to which Quilladin jumped up and slapped it. Palpitoad preceded with a flick of his tongue as a substitute.

"Gotta say, Captain. That was a bang-up job!" Dereece proudly admitted.

"Thank you, Dereece. But I think the biggest payoff goes to this little guy over here...o-or girl. Yeah, girl." Joey lifted the barrier over Larvesta's head, petting her. "I'm just glad that that nothing bad happened to her in the end. And look!" He moved to take Boombox from Dereece, replaying the song once more.

Immediately, Larvesta turning herself to and fro, giggling with glee at the tunes. "You see that? That is my daughter for sure! Haha!" Joey laughed, pointing at her.

Dereece groaned, doing another eyeroll. "Oi vey..."

Joey bent down to meet Larvesta's height. He offered the newborn a smile. "So Larvesta, you wanna hang out with us?" He looked towards Quilladin and Palpitoad, offering endearing smiles of their own. "We'll have a good time...you know, when we're not in mortal peril every other week, but that comes with the job. Anyways, what do you say?"

Larvesta tilted her head, unsure of what to make of the opportunity Joey offered. Though being a newborn literally minutes ago would leave many to wonder just what the world had to offer. Though she was still new, at least to this point, she knew enough to know that this creature before her meant no harm and took care of her. Not only that, but the battling she saw looked enticing! She looked up at Joey and cooed with excitement.

"I'll take that as your way of saying yes. Okay then..." He reached into his coat, where he scouted for something in his handbag. "How about...this!" He pulled out a Poke Ball, but unlike the usual coloration, it had a bright green and yellow ripple shading on it.

Dereece recognized it almost immediately. "Is that a Nest Ball?"

"Yeah, pretty neat right? I only bought the one because they're like five times the amount a regular Poke Ball is worth. But I wanted to get something comfortable for the little guy when he hatches just in case." Joey held out the Nest Ball to Larvesta's face. "So what do you say, Larvesta?"

"Aaaaah?" Larvesta looked at Joey briefly, before glancing at the odd contraption in his hand. She blinked before she smiled. "Ah!" She tapped it out of curiosity, causing it to suddenly flip its lid. She converted into red energy that was sucked into the container and clamped shut once all of it was inside.

In Joey's palm, the Nest Ball shuddered, before moving about once. After that, a loud ding was heard and the ball ceased moving, indicating Larvesta's capture.

Joey's smile brightened as he stood up. "Well guys...looks like we got another new one here! Larvesta, baby! Yes!" He whistled, holding the Nest Ball high.

"Awesome!" Quilladin cheered.

"Bupta~!" Palpitoad praised in joy.

"Yeah, Bupta!"

As Joey was having praises from Quilladin and Palpitoad, Dereece sighed to himself. "Well, all's well that end's well, I suppose. Right?"

Duncan scoffed. "I suppose so."

"I'm very happy for you, Joey." Staraptor humbly noted, before turning towards Junior. "Now then, we should find our way back home. I'm sure Nic will be very worried if he finds out we've gone missing." She looked around, but was unfamiliar with the area. She resorted to asking Butterfree. "Excuse me, would you happen to know this layout?"

Butterfree shook his head and somberly chirped.

"I see. Then we'll have to scout from the air and work from there."

"Coooo!" Junior cooed loudly as he flailed his arms about. He suddenly jumped from Staraptor's back, latching onto Butterfree's. He naturally reacted with a sudden screech and kicking his feet.

"Junior! What did we just go through! Get off him this instant!" Staraptor rushed over and grabbed Junior with her talons. Once she had made contact, another aura engulfed the three.

"Cooo~!" Junior chimed, before the three teleported out of sight.

"Wait, where'd they go now?" Dereece worried.

Duncan turned away, having lost interest in the affair. "Beats me."

Joey looked down at the Nest Ball, noticing how warm it was even from the outside. He beamed a proud smile before tossing it up. Larvesta reappeared in midair with a sparkling glimmer around her frame. She cooed loudly upon being caught in Joey's hands. "I'll say this now before it's too late..." His face grew serious. "Listen, things might get rough every now and again. And to be honest, this world is pretty dangerous." He smiled sincerely. "So if we're both going to live out our lives, we need to make the best it – together! You got that?"

"Ah~!" Larvesta eagerly nodded.

"Sweet! Then let's get you ho-" He was cut off when Larvesta started to sniffle. He noticed her blinking repeatedly with a fixed look set on her nose. "Hey...what's wrong?"

"A-a...ACHOO~!"

A sudden burst of flames erupted in front of Joey from her sneeze. Dereece cringed at the sight, whereas Duncan looked less than enticed and more expectant of the scene. They saw the sparks fade, revealing Joey's face covered in char.

Joey blinked, regaining his train of thought after that rush. He sniffed to smell something burning...though it was really his nasal cavities' hairs cindered. "Huh, so this is new baby smell...extra crispy."

"Hahahaha!" Larvesta laughed.

---

Shiin was still observing from the exaggerated distance. It had been a long day, and even still, he was seeing Nic and Garchomp move at such alarming rates. "Such stamina...to train this long without so much as rest." He said, his tone mixed with both awe and worry. "And to maintain such reflexes...just what kind of training is this?"

On the tree branch above him, Butterfree, Staraptor, and Junior found themselves transported onto it. The three were frozen for a moment to process, but Junior made a quick giggle before letting go of Butterfree and teleporting with Staraptor once more.

'A child?' Shiin heard the giggle and looked up. To his wonders – and partial indifference – he saw Butterfree perched on the bark. "...oh, it's only you." He sighed in disappointment. "Why do you always have to give me such a hard time?"

Even though he was there physically, Butterfree's mind was long gone. He didn't know what to say, let alone feel. What the hell just happened? One moment, he was minding his own business, next thing he knew, a baby cloud up and ate his snack, and the next thing was him ending up back where he started. Was any of that even real?

But rather than answer his or Shiin's inquiries, he slacked on the tree branch, groaning in exhaustion.

Shiin huffed and chose to focus on his observations instead. "These Pokémon, such uncouth creatures..."

---

Staraptor and Junior reappeared in the unbroken confines of Nic and Erza's home. The former blinked and looked around, while the latter hopped off his mother's back.

"We're...we're back where we started?" Staraptor's realization was followed by the sound of a door handle opening from outback. Even from here, she could smell the familiar aroma of salty sweat, hinting intense training completion by her trainer.

"Alright, let's get some water..." Nic filed through the living room area, with Garchomp in tow. Neither had too many scratches on their bodies, aside from their skin and scales coated in sweat and churned dirt. Nic's eyes fell onto Staraptor a short distance away. "Staraptor, hey. What's going on?" he asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

"I..." Staraptor shook her head, trying to regain her sense of reason. She adverted her eyes onto Junior in expectations of him either splashing about or laughing...but he was sleeping on the soft rug. Really, at this point, what could she say to compensate for this very exuberating experience? She doubted any lick of words would suffice for now. But if she had any, they would be miniscule.

"We...went outside a little too long." She half-lied. "And Junior had so much energy that I could barely keep up."

"What's that? Sounds like you're starting to get soft on us, Staraptor." Garchomp spoke.

"Please, Garchomp. As if I could be held back to that extent. Raising a child is no easy feat." Staraptor rebuffed, raising her head up adamantly.

Garchomp turned away. He knew better than to pull one on his friends when even he could tell she seemed as exhausted as he was. "If you say so."

Nic could tell Staraptor was exhausted about something. He looked back at Garchomp, and from his look, his hunch seemed to be on point. But for the respect and effort of his Pokémon, he wasn't going to press the matter into something to stress about. Instead, he walked over and patted Staraptor's head, offering a soft smile.

"If it means anything...I'm grateful and proud that you're taking this experience on by yourself. You're adamant when it comes to a new challenge. And this is no different. Just keep doing your best, we're here if you ever need us."

Staraptor blinked, processing what Nic said. She lowered her head and accepted his nails softly scratching her plumage. It felt rewarding. "...well, I have you to blame for that trait, Nic...but thanks. That means a lot to me."

Nic and Staraptor looked at each other, sharing smiles that reflected both respect and comfort. The former turned away towards the kitchen. "It's getting late. I better get dinner started, otherwise Erza's gonna be hunting me down for sport to the ends of Fiore and back."

"Yes, that would most certainly be a problem we don't want." Staraptor watched Nic and Garchomp vacate before turning back towards Junior, her earlier shock turning towards sympathy as she cradled the sleeping child in her wing. "You're certainly a wonder of your own right, aren't you?"

---

"Ugh-pfft! What happened?!"

As soon as Kane regained consciousness, he looked all around the dining area. No, not just there. Everything was a wreck. Everything. His eyes darted from his Boldore lodged into the wall, to the shattered ornaments and decorations that he spent so many Jewels on. It was bad enough that he may have had a possible concussion, but now he had to deal with a, literally, broken home.

"My precious wine glass..." He shakily held up a cracked wine glass, watching half of it fall off the handle and break in half on the floor. His shoulders slacked out of sheer displeasure. "All my work...now I have to start from square one all over again!" He got up, his eyes filled with growing anger. "Gnnngh...Joey Haycliff! You may have won this round, but this is far from over!"

He heard a weak hiss from behind. He saw Whirlipede bruised and exhausted, much to his horror. "Whirlipede...!" He rested a hand on his head. "There, there, darling Whirlipede. It'll be okay. I have Revives just in case."

He got up and went to his bedroom, noticing that something was wrong. His nose caught the familiar smell of something burning close by. He looked around and saw that the handles to his closet were laying on the floor. He moved closer to inspect them with a discerning eye. He noticed that they had dense indents, indicating they were slammed by something hard to get them off the closet.

"Wait...no!" He shot up to his feet and reached for the open holes where the knobs once resided. He pulled them open to the sight that left him paralyzed in sheer horror.

All the photos he had to remind him of his archnemesis, from the magazine posters to the ones he had Whirlipede take; every single one was either burnt to a crisp, or reduced to ash. They all had so much char on them that when Kane went to pick one up, his fingers were thickened in the black substance. His body shook uncontrollably to where he fell to his knees and yelled at this ceiling.

"NOOOOOOOO~!"

Miles away, Duncan tilted his cap with a scoff.

---

Sorry for the wait guys, but I sure as hell hope that this was worth the wait. I...have no excuse for why this took so long aside from my last chapter's A/N. My pacing is so slow that it took me a month between this update and my other crossover. I'm out of shape, plain and simple.

But, I hope this was a reasonable comeback. We now have a character in possession of a shiny Pokémon, and a Larvesta no less. So now, Joey has a full party at his disposal.

Hope you guys enjoyed! Reviews are appreciated! XD