{}=Pokemon Speaking; =Telepathic Speaking

After an eventful spring, things are beginning to heat up in the most literal sense. Summer has arrived in the scenic Sunyshore City, the most lively time of the year. There's much to do while the region is warm and our band of heroes intend to make the most of it.

~x1x~

PoV: Topaz Heart

Location: Beacon Household - Sunyshore City

Time: Morning - June 1st

It's time!I awoke this morning with a sense of vigor and liveliness I hadn't felt in so long. It was as though my body was reacting to a shift in the world around me, allowing it to reach peak condition and unleash my full power. I arose from my bed to stare at the window, only for the sun's rays to cascade over my body at that exact moment, properly awakening me and warming my spirit.

Summer was back in Sunyshore.

Summer was my favorite season of the year. The entire city was filled with life and lush, longer days, shorter nights, everyday was a beach day and no school to think about. Summer in Sunyshore is what everyone in the city looks forward to, the time of the year when the city is its most active and entertaining.

I've never truly had a bad summer, but so much of my life has changed since autumn. It was no longer just Donut, Lou and I finding our own ways to entertain ourselves with Jade's team. Now we had ample friends and activities to look forward to.

But before all that, I needed the right look.

I freshened up and got a black tee with the Beacon Badge logo, white summer vest, black shorts and sneakers with orange laces. The sun was going to be out more often now so I added a visor along with fingerless gloves, before heading to the kitchen accompanied by Holyn. All of it was fit for a trainer's regular attire, but also breezy so I'd last longer in the heat. Personally, I think it was a well crafted ensemble.

About time we decreased the layers.

Lou was sleeping outside at the Alolan tree with Donut and Rheneas, but that was alright. The two of us were already talking about our own plans when we happened across Violet already up preparing all the pokemon's breakfast as usual.

She had lighter pants, a more lavender color and thinner material, though still durable. She was wearing a thinner vest as well, the same color as the one she usually wore, and a deep green undershirt. Her gloves, goggles and shoes were the same, as well as her scarf. She wouldn't part with that no matter the weather.

"Good morning, Violet," I practically sang. "Beautiful day, dontcha think?"

{G'morning!} Holyn added cheerfully. He was more than happy to match my energy.

"Good morning," she greeted warmly (Holyn primarily) before swiftly returning to her preparations. "You two are particularly energetic."

Zenara ran up and bonked Holyn on the head with her own, grinning brightly. She was always up to match energy levels. {Morning! It's summer again!}

"Exactly right, Zenara. The best season! Now you have way less wool so you won't overheat like last year, so you can actually enjoy it!" I noted delightfully.

{More that it's less poofy, but yeah!}

Violet paused at that, looking pointedly at me.

"She said she didn't want to be sheered and ran off to go challenge traveling trainers. Lou and I found her swimming in a local fountain in bliss not long after," I explained, thinking fondly of that venture. "But no more! If anyone gets too hot, Holyn can freeze them now!"

{I'm an expert now!} Holyn affirmed confidently, his mouth exhaling frigid air to prove it. {Uh, will anyone need freezing soon?}

I cupped my chin. "I don't… think so."

"There is something else we will require you for, however. Topaz and you especially, Holyn," Violet noted while finishing up the food.

{Oooh, how can I help?} Holyn asked enthusiastically.

{This is what I was tellin' ya about!} Zenara bleated happily to him.

"The others are waiting outside, and I doubt Topaz will turn down the opportunity to eat as the sun rises," she added as she headed outside. "We can talk and eat."

We greeted everyone before setting up everyone's food bowls and plates around the backyard patio. While everyone else may not share my exuberance for summer, there was a slight shift in some. Noticeably, Donut looked even more mellow than usual, floating happily as he fed himself psychically and Meliae's wings were fully stretched to absorb all of the sun's rays.

Right before we began to eat, Jade and his crew came along to join us, primarily at Shizu's request. Despite Violet's aversion to meat based products, she knew exactly how to cook it to match Shizu's unpredictable moods and today she had predicted the summer sun would have her craving extra.

Upon spotting Jade I noticed he had also changed for the climate. He wore a dark green linen button down tee with khaki shorts, brown shoes and a panama hat. Upon closer inspection a subtle rose vine pattern was also intricately stitched into his shirt and the newest Poketch model on his wrist.

A stylish and fitting look for him. If there's anything he's going to beat me in, it's in fashion.

Once we had all sat down and began to eat, I remembered Violet's earlier proposition. "Oh yeah, you said you needed me and Holyn for something? Did you want to head to the Underground?"

"That is a part of it, yes," she affirmed before bringing out… three empty berry pots? "The end goal is to bring the Underground to us."

"Oh?" Holyn and I questioned simultaneously with vested interest.

"A great many minerals, precious stones and similar geological formations grow uniquely within the Sinnoh Underground. Determining a way to replicate that phenomenon in a portable, overall diminutive device could be a first step to assisting Pokemon that rely on such geological deposits the world over. So what I hope you will help with is the process of tweaking these berry pots into rock pots."

She then looked at Holyn specifically. "No one else has the connection to the earth that you do. Perhaps we could undergo this project otherwise, but without your expertise and intuition, it would take exponentially longer. If not be outright impossible. I hope you are interested in it, as you are the cornerstone of this project."

{Ayyy, cornerstone, nice Violet!} Amethyst called over.

{Growing rocks from berry pots?} Flax questioned, his face blanching as he pushed away his bowl, before getting up. {I need a minute,} he said as he walked over to the greenhouse where Meliae waited, having heard enough. We all watched as Gautier waddled after him to explain Violet was not betraying the floral kind.

After that short episode, Holyn turned his attention back to Violet with eyes shining with eagerness. {I'm super interested! Topaz and I are here to corner your stones!}

I nodded in agreement. "If Holyn wants to do it, then I'm all for it. Ready to put everything you've been learning these past few months to the test?"

{Roger!} He affirmed.

Jade sipped his morning tea with amusement as Violet gave Holyn a small smile, then pointing out each of the differently labeled berry pots. "There are several variables to test, and this is an area you both are more experienced in than I. So the specifics I will be relying on you for, but the notion is thus."

She pointed to each of the pots in turn. "The first one is the simplest. Just transplanting soil from the Underground to one of the pots and planting a stone of your choice. Hopefully, Topaz, you have four nigh identical stones, one for this pot. The next should be calibrated to the atmospheric conditions of the Underground, without its soil. And the third with both. While the fourth you simply need plant in the Underground itself, and return to it at the same time we check the pots as a control."

She then looked back at Holyn. "In all honesty, I expect these first attempts to provide nominal results, if any. This is simply to eliminate variables for confirmations' sake. After we have done that, the task of determining the, for lack of a better term, vibes of the Underground falls to you. There is a reason it is The Grand Underground and not simply underground, and you are the only one who can truly feel that difference in its minutia."

{I see…} Holyn muttered intensely turning to me. {I remember we got four pink sphere seeds we wanted to plant. We could use those.} I nodded as I reached into my bag to get them as he turned back to Violet. {We call the really small gems, seeds. They're different from most gems because their elemental energy is totally condensed, meaning it hasn't started growing yet.}

"There we are," I noted, placing the four seeds on the table. Pink spheres are common, but pretty. "We can plant one in the usual spot."

"Would that spot be your burgeoning underground base?" Violet questioned.

Holyn and I's eyes both widened at her question before we simultaneously turned to Rheneas holding a mushroom pancake, midbite. She turned to us after a couple seconds. {What?}

"Rheneas did not tell me," Violet affirmed. "I would not ask her to break her word."

{Oh… then how'd you know?} Holyn inquired.

"Yeah it's a pretty new thing. I haven't even told Jade about it," I noted.

"As if I'd go through the trouble to find it," Jade huffed.

"I found it myself." She reached into her bag and pulled out a flag before holding it out to me. "I believe it is customary to take the owner's flag."

Holyn and I's eyes widened even further at the sight of our flag. It was yellow with a Cranidos' silhouette on it, representing me and him. "How did you find this? We basically just put it in a hole in the wall. There's nothing implying a base could be there!"

She hummed. "Topaz, I live with you. I can recognize when you have gone mining, and have more wear and fewer minerals consistently. After knowing you were constructing one, I mapped out potential places where you would have built it. I was correct in my assessments. That is all."

{When did you start building a base?} Gautier inquired.

"Well, with Lou evolved, Rheanas' nose and Holyn's skill-" I began.

Donut cleared his throat, drawing attention.

"And Donut's help, of course, I finally felt confident enough in establishing a proper foothold in the Grand Underground after all these years. So during our excursions we kept an eye out for places we could chill at that everyone likes. A few weeks ago, we found the perfect place, cleared some land and I placed the flag so we could find it again," I glanced at Violet. "And since then we've barely done anything more. So yeah, even if she had an idea, I didn't expect it to be found so soon."

Amethyst chuckled. {Topaz, she rooted out Benjy. You weren't trying to cover your tracks nearly as well.}

{I believe we're all well aware that Violet would never allow a human she's connected so closely with to have a hidden hideaway that she does not know the exact location of,} Lou noted before slurping some royal honey.

{Yeah, that makes sense…} Holyn affirmed before turning to Violet, Zenara and Rheneas. {Alright, so let's all go to the secret base, plant the seed and get some soil later. How's that sound?}

Zenara's tail wagged excitedly. {Yeah! Let's do it!}

{And we can work more on the base!} Rheneas cheered.

"I will accompany you," Violet affirmed.

"Sounds like a plan," I smiled. While it does suck to know our flag had already been taken, at least it was taken by the smartest person we know.

~x2x~

PoV: Topaz Heart

Location: Grand Underground - Sunyshore City

Time: Noon

Dressed in our mining attire, Holyn, Zenara, Violet, Rheneas and I walked over to the Sunyshore City Underground entrance. We stood at the entrance of the cave, breathing in that mineral infused air.

"Feels kind of pointless to lead you guys to it when you already know where it is," I chuckled.

{I don't remember the way!} Zenara perked up. {Not from the start anyway. We went all over the place when we were looking.}

"That actually makes me feel better," I cheered before putting on my mining helmet. "Okay then, let's move out, mining team!"

Holyn and Rheneas cheered in unison, putting a small smile on Violet's face as we made our descent into the planet's depths. Holyn led the way down the main path until we made it to a crossroads to where the tunnels became more varied and wild. I double checked my pokedex to make sure we were going the right way, but Holyn didn't skip a beat as he continued down the correct path.

{So how did you guys decide where to set-up the base?} Zenara asked.

I opened my mouth to answer till I saw Holyn turn around excitedly to answer. This was his area now, he should answer. {We want to see how far we can go and to do that, we wanted a good base in case we needed a rest. But it had to be somewhere comfortable that we could find easy enough. Rheneas is best at sniffing out plants, so we found an area with more foliage.}

As he said that, we took a turn towards a more lush cavern with an underground river flowing beside us. The plants sparked to life at Zenara's mere electrical presence.

{Course, we didn't want it where anyone could find it, so I started looking for places with more crystals. That means the soil is healthy, so we can grow more gems to trade with,} Holyn continued as we took a turn toward a narrower cavern with electrically charged crystals floating around us.

"And we need gems to trade with so we can actually afford to furnish the base with objects that'll work all the way down here," I added.

{I like this cave system a lot,} Holyn cheered as he tapped a floating crystal with a mineral infused hand, causing it to shimmer a spectrum of colors. {The planet's life is strong here. We've been thinking of a name for it.}

"It resonated with Donut and Lou too with how charged all these crystals are," I added as we continued. "Electromagnetically charged floating crystals aren't uncommon in Sunyshore's Underground, just less known. The most famous location is Unova's Chargestone Cavern, but that's only because it's on the surface. Sunyshore's charged stones carry on for miles upon miles."

Zenara raised a paw. {How's a cavern on the surface?}

"It's a cave that trainers typically pass through to get to Mistralton City," I explained. "Unova doesn't have a Grand Underground, but it does have a regular one like everywhere else."

Violet looked to Holyn. "Does everywhere underground in Sinnoh feel like the Grand Underground?"

{No, you have to go deep enough underground to really feel the Grand Underground. There's a shift in the air and the elements around me telling me when we're there,} he explained before thinking on it again. {Remember when you had Flax was searching for that nexus thingy on Route 222? This cave system feels a lot like that for me, I think. Heimdall told me about this last time we saw each other. He said this is a sign the aura is really strong here. I dunno anything about aura, I know rocks and soil and they're extra healthy here.}

She nodded to herself before rubbing Holyn's dome. "Thank you."

{We're almost here!} Rheneas alerted everyone.

We diverted a bit from the river down a reasonably sized cavern. There was a clearing that led further down, but this was the spot. Surrounding us were electrically charged plants and mushrooms growing on the walls, crystals floating peacefully, shining a deluge of different colors and illuminating the cave. There was some indication of stray rocks being broken and cleared up, but I felt we kept it clean enough.

Holyn stepped toward a wall with some carefully placed rocks behind it. Not heavy enough that I couldn't lift it, but with a stomp of his foot, they floated away carefully revealing a large room. We all stepped inside revealing support beams keeping the room from caving in on us, electric crystals embedded into the walls illuminating the room and an underground PC with a flag holder on a small desk, registering this location as a secret base.

The secret base of Team Lux.

I turned Violet and Zenara with an amused expression, replacing the flag. "I'd say welcome to our secret base, but… ya know."

Zenara smiled brightly. {But this time, it's got you and Holyn and Rheneas in it! So it's way better already.}

{We haven't gotten a chance to buy anything cool for it yet, but we have a bunch of spheres already growing! Follow me!} Holyn insisted as he led us back out of the secret base.

He then led everyone to a decently large crystal formation which he expertly moved with his seismic abilities, revealing our gem garden. A variety of different colored spheres budding from the earth's wall, growing in size.

{We hide all our growing spheres behind this crystal. It was already here when we found it, so it's not suspicious and most pokemon will miss what's growing behind it because it exudes so much energy. We can plant the test sphere here,} Holyn explained to Violet delightfully.

She nodded, kneeling and rubbing his dome gently. "Thank you, Holyn."

He barked at the praise as Violet took out the three pots, gesturing for me to come over. She dug out exactly as much soil as was typically in the berry pots to go in two of them, leaving the third's soil untouched. Then, using her tablet, she calibrated the humidity, ambient earth energy and other environmental conditions of the second and third pots to be exactly the same as they were here in our base.

Once that was finished, she took each of the four spheres, measured each of their sizes and planted them. One in the garden, the other three each in their own pot.

"I am not as familiar with the underground as you," she noted with a glance to me, "So I expect there will be further tweaks to the setup that you would more quickly determine than I. I will be relying on you and Holyn for that."

"Once we see how these grow we can make the proper adjustments," I assured her sincerely.

{I'm glad we're doing this. I hope everyone will be able to use these rock pots once we're done working on them,} Holyn responded.

"They will," she assured him.

"It'll take some time though, especially getting them to function well in capsules. Even berry pot owners say the berries never turn out quite as right as naturally grown, but most folk don't mind. It's just a sign that just because something can be capsuled for convenience, doesn't mean it's optimal," I continued. "For now we wait, but I'm also eager to see the results of this project."

"Do not forget to keep an eye out for more near identical stone seeds, I predict we will need several sets," she added.

{We passed by a bunch on the way here! Let's pick up some on the way back!} Holyn requested.

"Agreed. For once we'll make this mining excursion shorter. Donut, River and I have plans to go surfing," I noted happily.

{And we can play while you do that!} Zenara bleated to Holyn happily.

{Play fight you mean! I'm down!} Holyn cheered.

With the stone seeds planted and our mining activities decided, we made our way back to the surface. Bit of a dirty start to summer, but most definitely promising.

~x3x~

PoV: Topaz Heart

Location: Home - Sunyshore City

Time: Morning - June 8th

It's been a week since we began testing out the stone pots to see if we could grow gems in portable pots akin to how we grow berry pots. Usually, that's how long it'd take to expect any progress with stones, especially for ones so small. The difference should be noticeable. Or at least, I hoped it would be.

"Well this is disappointing," Jade gestured at the three barely grown seeds before their respective pots. "And here I thought you all had found an infinite diamond glitch in real life."

Violet had arranged them on the outside patio for all of us to have space to inspect them, granted it was mostly those that cared for mining. And Jade because he's typically around.

"It's only the first step and now we have the data to figure out why they didn't grow much," I reminded him optimistically.

"I would consider this result a positive one. They did precisely what I expected them to, and the lack of growth means the conditions within the Grand Underground are not simply atmospheric." She gestured at the one that had the soil from the Underground and its atmosphere. "This one could have grown marginally more, but further testing is required to confirm or deny that. And either way, to be remotely practical we will need Holyn's expertise to refine the process."

Holyn nodded, glaring at each of the pots, clearly his mind deep in thought of how to proceed. Violet and I had been educating him on the technical aspects of the project all week now. Of course, not all of it made sense to him, it wouldn't make sense to most. But his passion for the earth and the work we were doing motivated him to learn.

His focus was only disturbed when we heard a bit of a scuffle a few yards away. Training in the yard were River and Zerbino. He was manipulating flying targets for her to shoot down with water gun and mud shot. The speed at which they flew was near blinding to the average human eye, yet River was able to see through their movements and nail each one out of the sky.

"River's come really far in a few months, huh?" Jade noted, crossing his arms.

{That's because Zerbino and the others are great teachers,} Zenara stated proudly.

At those statements something clicked in Holyn's head as he turned to us eagerly. {One second,} he said before darting off over to where they were winding down with practice.

The two halted at his approach as he spoke to them avidly about something before he ran back to us with them in tow.

{Okay Violet, I think I know what to do since I really want this project to succeed. Which means we need all three of the seismic elements working together to make it the best it can be,} Holyn explained. {River is a Marshtomp so we've got ground and Zerbino a Magnezone so now we have steel. Maybe they could help?}

River eyed the stone pots curiously, stepping forward. {I dunno Holyn, I don't really know anything about this Grand Underground stuff you guys are always talking about.}

"Well, Rheneas isn't a seismic type and she caught on quick. Plus, I think you underestimate your knowledge of the planet's forces, River," I assured her. "You manipulate it well."

{Agreement: River, ever since your entry into this team your power over the mud has grown immensely. We have only trained you how to wield it in battle, but I believe you can do much more with it,} Zerbino added. {I myself have limited experience with the Grand Underground, but I am willing to assist if and when able.}

{How much difference do you guys think that'll make?} Rheneas asked.

I stroked my chin in thought. "We can cross reference what they feel is right or wrong with the soil we use with our numerical data and how the stone seeds interact with the pots. So hopefully, we can get more precise results sooner if all goes well, although we'd have to bring them up to speed a bit. Thoughts, Violet?"

She nodded to Holyn. "I trust your judgement. More assistance is always appreciated, and I thank you for your time," she added, inclining her head to River and Zerbino.

{As long as it doesn't cut into my training,} River asked, smirking at Zenara. {I don't want to spend all my time helping you guys and let Zenara surpass me. I'm nowhere near as strong as Lou or Amethyst, but my team is getting me there.}

Zenara sparked with excitement. {I'ma keep trying to do that even if you only trained!}

{Notice: I also have my own schedule to uphold,} Zerbino reminded us.

"I will be sure not to take too much of your time," Violet affirmed. "How much time you decide to spend assisting us with this is up to you, of course. Holyn is the one determining our primary course of action, so your advice would be supplementary to his."

"Great, so we have more members to our team, let's analyze this data and see what we can improve upon," I responded eagerly, taking out my laptop.

{I think… it might not have had enough minerals in the soil. Even with the right atmosphere in the pot,} Holyn noted, peering over my shoulder.

{Suggestion: I can oversee the atmosphere, but I will need to go underground to sense what is right and what is wrong,} Zerbino offered. {None of us on Volkner's team have ever been.}

{I guess I can check out the minerals in the soil? If the soil tastes bad, that's usually how I tell when something's off. At least, that's how I figured back in the swamp,} River added.

{I can help with teleporting people around so it's quicker,} Amethyst noted.

"I will do my best to determine empirical data from your determinations," Violet affirmed.

{And I'll be moral support!} Zenara cheered.

"And I'll… see what Flax and Meliae are doing," Jade said as he left for the greenhouse.

Once again we were back to work figuring out how to make the stone pots work. Watching us all work together on a common goal in peace was satisfying. While I initially had plans to see how much further underground we could go, for now my focus was on what we could accomplish here.

A/N: This chapter was completed the day after the 2025 Pokemon Presents. I hope Champions has better animations than the main series and ZA overall looks fine. Nothing to complain about.

I hope Chikorita gets the redemption she deserves, Tepig's evolutions look better and Totodile maintains the looks we like from them. Also please give Sinnoh pokemon something new.

Co-Author: I hope we get new megas that look good. Megas continue to be the best gimmick they've ever done and I want more official ones.

Group

Gym Trainer: Topaz Heart

Brothers in Arms: Donut (Raichu), Lou (Vikavolt), Holyn (Cranidos).

Deck: Fool, Devil, Strength, Hermit, Fortune, Hierophant, Magician, Empress.

x

Human Companion: Violet

Pokemon Family: Amethyst (MeowsticF), Zenara (Flaaffy), Meliae (Tropius).

x

Blooming Celebrity: Jade Forrest

Co-Stars: Flax (Roserade), Shizu (Houndoom), Gautier (Dottler).

x

Family: Cenza (Dedenne), Rogelio (Calyrex), Rheneas (Spoink).