Note: Alright Hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day, this chapter would have been released previously but sleeping schedule woes had pushed it back today as when go over it I wanted to make sure I'm vigilant for corrections, especially for this chapter.
This chapter has been my favorite to write so far, allowing things to get a bit more spooky with the kids meeting a member of the monsters in an interesting/Spooky way along with the story's tertiary threat!
Story Summary:
Pokemon XY Episode 19
Pokemon XY game: Cyllage City
Month 1: Week 2: The Time To Step Up
Planning A Conspiracy: Team Rocket, Madam X
Somewhere inside Connecting Caves
Team Rocket was in luck when they managed to break out of Shabboneau Castle, the idiot guards letting them keep their Pokémon. James used his Inkay to blow a hole out of the wall while using Jesse's Serviper to create a smoke screen for them to escape mostly unimpeded. Fortunately for them, the king had assigned the weirdos and twerps off to some random town next door, allowing them to escape mostly unhampered. Unfortunately for them, they had to switch bases once more, given that their "abandoned" shack that they had next to Lumiose City was currently locked down, given that their Mega Meowth showed them the way by following its tracks right to it, forcing them to reposition elsewhere, such as the connecting caves far off from the official entrances, of course.
The connecting caves were essentially a series of caves under a small mountain range that cut through the region's western part, and only one-fourth of it had been explored to its full capacity. That margin was growing bigger each day, but for Team Rocket, it would be more than enough for them to set up their new hidden base if they went to the far section of where they were excavating, and they did some digging themselves until they found a cave system to which they found themselves in right now.
The cave was fairly damp; surprisingly, water puddles littered the ground, and water dripped off the ceiling, but the place was stable, which was the only thing they had been concerned about. If they heard even so much as a rumble, they were going to pack quickly and be gone in the next moment, but for now, nothing seemed amiss as Meowth set up one of the utility cubes; the device started up for a moment before projecting a display from out the top of it. The cube displays a very familiar scene to the three of them as they are once again in the halls of the Shabboneau Castle looking at the gathering before the king. Meowth gives a command to zoom in on the girl as the scene continues to play forward and shows how the girl's cheeks began to twitch and change color before letting off that piercing sound, which James then voiced a pause on the scene.
The three of them began to discuss what had been happening at the moment with the girl no person could make such a sound, and Jesse remarked that she could have been using some sort of technology but James pointed and yelled for the display to zoom in further at the girl more specifically her cheeks which they all could see noticeably expand much further than should be possible, Meowth gaged just looking at it thinking on how it would feel before they played the video once more staggering as the sound blared even through the video as they turned it down, Meowth made the observation that based on the sound the girl sounded just like a Snorlax, Jesse also agreed but that didn't explain the long tounge that she got them with the first time but James also commented on that their was maybe some Ghost type in her as well as he also remembered that day and remarked how the girl seemed to come out of nowhere when she got them, which Jesse commented that she also seemed to poison them on that day.
James seemed to humm for a moment at that before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his datapad from the information they gathered on the girl so far in that she's mixed with a Pokemon of some kind and that she also can use poison, that it's likely whatever pokemon the girl was mixed with was a poison type of some kind the closet one that also that he could think of similarity with the girl was a Croagunk and this double for its evolved form Toxicroak which had a bloated sack under it which could expand and lengthen just like the girl's cheeks did in the video, the girl also was capable of doing stretching out her tongue which likely she was also part Lickitung and for the going invisible it was something they didn't know what it could be probably some ghost type of some kind may be a Haunter or something as it was also noted for having a pretty long tongue while also being able to turn invisible.
The group proceeded to pat themselves on the back for being able to decipher the girl so much and how pleased the boss would be when they were able to tell them about all that they were able to about the girl's abilities, but Meowth got the group back on track and went back to the video, zooming back out to see the group in total once more. This time, focusing on the taller boy, his weirdness was on full display as exhaust pipes seemingly stuck out on his upper arms and even larger ones on his legs. Meowth asked if there were any Pokémon that had such pipes growing out of their bodies, and James took a moment to look that up. His best guesses would be Varoom and Revavroom as he showed the group the Pokémon in question, which seemed to be a sentient engine, and the second one being a sentient car. They hadn't seen much from the boy's abilities, but James was willing to bet that those engines on his legs were likely something a booster that granted him speed, which Jesse agreed with, as she didn't even see him until he was right next to her when they invaded the research lab.
Without anything more, they could add about this specific member they switched over to the other girl a smaller brunette but they focused on the four orbs that hovered above her head almost like they were suspended in mid-air, Meowth suggested that she could likely just be a psychic and James agreed remarking that how it was common for psychically gifted trainers to train as they traveled by levitating Pokeballs above their heads as they walked but upon the closer expectation of the image it didn't seem like any Pokeball they knew of, they were all far too big for something like that, they zoomed and enhanced the image a couple of times on the black orbs to see if they could find something and what they did find out was something interesting along them was a number written as "100t"
Both Meowth and Jesse were confused by what that could mean before James gasped in shock as he took a step back from the screen and looked at his display screen, causing the other two to turn back and look at him to ask what was his problem, and James began to talk in a somewhat shaky voice as he described what the numbers could mean as he thought more on how psychically gifted trainers walk around with Pokéballs, but some that weren't trainers could occasionally be seen walking around with weights, and weights typically have somewhere along them to notify people of how heavy they are, getting what the man was getting at. Jesse still asked what the problem was as she and Meowth shrugged their shoulders as they looked back at the image, but he got their attention once more as he rushed to the display and pointed at the T, asking them if either of them knew what the letter stood for in terms of weight, which both shook their heads, but Jesse just demanded he come out with it.
He told them that it stood for tons, which meant she had been carrying with her powers 400 tons of weight; not seeing the cause for concern, he told them that a single ton weighs 1,000 kilograms in comparison to him, who weighs something like 65 kilograms. The moment of realization had started to set in on both of their faces as shock and fear gripped them for a moment as Meowth announced that the girl would be able to throw hundreds of him up in the air like a child does a kickball. Jesse couldn't believe that she would lift something that heavy just for something like training, and from the looks of it, she didn't even notice it. Meowth commented, Imagine how much she could lift in that case. Before Jesse replied with an even more disturbing thought, What if she hit one of them with those things? Maybe not even Meowth would be unscathed from that, and the small cat Pokémon rubbed a hand over his head just thinking about it.
James quickly shifted the conversation once more from that grimacing and painful thought to the last of the weirdos, this one despite what they said about the brunette had been giving them the most trouble, and on the outside appearance he looked completely normal like an everyday person. Still, they knew the truth he could sprout out black tendrils out of thin air, the only Pokemon James could compare it to was Cofagrigus's hands but that wasn't all there was also the boy's supernatural strength and speed that seemed to just come out of nowhere as they momentarily speed up the scene this time to where the boy had managed to catch them an lash out before switching to another video of their "fight" with the boy. Still, Meowth commented calling it that was giving them too much credit.
Meowth observed however that the boy's hair color was changing as he pointed to the screen of dark green hair and then it lit up before he went on the attack they noticed this transition a couple of times, hinting to them that maybe he had to activate this increased state sort of like the pokemon move hidden power or something like it, well whatever it was it was likely what's giving him such strength and speed so if they could catch him unaware than they could bypass it completely and knock him out or something which Meowth agreed with, but James put a hamper on that and remarked well that's their next issue the teen seemed to have a supernatural sense to keep knowing where they were, showcasing the time when they were dozens of meters away from the twerps and he looked in their direction or the day before in the hallway. They needed to find out how that was possible, and the only lead they had, if they assumed these kids were experimented on by Pokémon, was that he could sense aura like a Lucario.
Thinking that way however the question was posed of how they would hide their aura and for that, neither of them knew of a solution they would have to ask the boss about it some other time it seemed but this led them down to the true end goal of all this snooping which was the twerp and his Pikachu, going from what they could tell from the footage they got from him in Lumiose City he had slightly altered the Pikachu's moveset, now it includes quick attack, Iron tail, thunderbolt, and electro ball, which was including the other things the Pikachu can do but it was something they could manage with their pokemon the real thing they needed to do was separate the weirdos from the group and they were confident they could handle the rest but the question remained on how they would go about doing that?
Their conversation had been rudely interrupted suddenly when they all heard a laughing suddenly echo through the cave causing them to immediately start to look around for the source, each of them instinctivally turned their head upwards as a shadow began to move in the darkness of a connecting tunnel that was above them, as the shadow came out into the small light that had managed to bleed into the cave through their entrance revealed a person cloaked in a large black overcoat that made distinguishing the person impossible especially with the hoodie covering the person face, the only thing they could see was the mouth and bits of the hair that dropped low enough to be seen but judging by the laugh they assumed that the eavesdropper has been a woman of some kind.
The girl's laugh faded as Jesse asked the stranger who she was, which James added in a comment about how it was rude to listen in on other conversations. The woman responded in a deadpan voice that her name was Madam X before introducing them to her Malamar. Behind the woman, a Pokémon came up from behind a large being nearly as tall as the woman was, but it was floating, so it was hard to tell. It had large eyes and a beak almost like that of a bird. It was all blue in the cover of darkness, but along its chest sprouted multiple glowing yellow dots that went up its body on each half, culminating in two thick yellow bars that rounded around the Pokémon neck. The Pokémon spoke for a moment before it started to glow, illuminating the darkness with a bright light that had completely consumed Team Rocket as the group was looking at them. They heard the woman speak again before their minds went blank: Thank you for the intelligence. Those would make a fine addition to our cause indeed.
Team Rocket didn't respond as their eyes had been completely glazed over, completely caught under Madam X's. The women gave them the order to release all of the Pokémon that they had in their possession, to which the group responded with a confident yes. The group took out their Pokémon from each of them, and once more Madam X's Malamar light began to shine brightly, completely ensnaring them under her spell. The woman gave one more order this time to remain at their current position but, more importantly, to remain silent as she discussed their next steps; if they had any more useful information, they should consider writing it down or recording it for her, which once more received a definitive yes, ma'am, before she simply laughed as she walked back into the shadows of the cave.
Madam X continued her trek into the deep and winding Cave routes she was surprised by the intrusion not thinking others would be around this area any time soon but she was mistaken or at least that was before listening in given they seemed to be planning to steal Pokemon from a trainer it was signed that their hideout was somewhat secure if those type of people were using it, that still made them sick to his stomach just other humans trying to steal pokemon like their things or objects, which only made her even angrier as she trespassed through the caves there was no light in this cave system given how far they were but with her light, she can easily find her way to the suggested meeting spot.
She met with others who thought like her; they had for the moment only been three that they managed to bring to their group. The discussion began in earnest; not wanting to be seen together, they even spoke using psychics just to ensure that no one who may have been passing by could hear them and their plan. She told them about the detour that she had to take as the reason why she was late; however, she had gained some new pawns that could perhaps help them with their ultimate plan. The other two in her group were skeptical of that, telling her that adding more and more people brings more risk of being exposed and captured, but she countered and explained they needed the muscle; the world was hostile to them and their ideas, even the Pokémon themselves had confused themselves into just accepting the established quo.
They reasoned that it was acceptable to at least have a couple of minions to help them and ward them off but things were still needed for their plan to succeed completely, the group of three began to share information the most important topic to be addressed was the large purple wave that had consumed the region a couple of days ago what could be the purpose of such a thing and who caused it, one of their members spoke and talked about the new visitors to the region that had came remarking that after gathering some minions of its own, they gathered that they were the likely cause as he brought out his phone and showed them a video quickly after the incident that took place a couple of days ago of a visage of the beach.
It showed some humans, but surprisingly, something seemed to teleport in sometime later: four other Pokémon and a human. More than that, one of the Pokémon was a significant figure from a very faraway land, suggesting the Pokémon that had teleported them there was extremely powerful, but the group was shocked when the video continued, which showed that it was the human being that had been the one to teleport, which seemed to make the legendary figure simply vanish from sight.
The supposed human seemed to also converse with not only those of its kind but the Pokémon themselves; the humans that it was talking to were also stranger than normal as the creature began to show videos of these unique humans with abilities similar to that of Pokémon. She found that interesting as she told them that her newly acquired minions had something to say about that as they were researching them, so they may be able to learn a bit more about them. The group murmured in agreement before asking them to show them the way to these new minions. They walked back through the cave before informing them that she didn't bring them here, but they had already been in the process of setting up shop.
The group of eight two humans and six Pokemon had been waiting patiently for her return and bowed before her presence before presenting her with a cube that displayed in writing what they had managed to gather not only on the Pikachu which had a very strange history of their records are to be believed but the beings that had arrived a couple of days ago, apparently being called "ultra-monsters" by the place they had come from they reasoned that perhaps these monsters grew in a place that had the reverse of this world where the pokemon were in charge which presented an opportunity for them, they could find others to their cause but the others were skeptical of revealing such plans to them but having them on their side would be a large boon to their effort if they could convince them or if they could mind control them then they likely could afford to be a little more open about their actions.
They all seemed to agree to a point that these new individuals, the monsters at least, could be the boost they needed, but that was a major if. Would they even care about their plot or if their mind control would even work on them in the first place? If they decided to confront them, it would be in their best interest to remain still and discrete; they couldn't have the humans finding out about their plans yet and completely ruining the process, or if that power ultra monster finds out and disproves them, we don't want to have it turn that power against them if they could help it, not in their current state at least, or not without a few pawns to spare for the actuality. So with a few more discussions, the decision was made, and the group started to go their separate ways, taking their minions along with them as they split ways and divided up their responsibilities and who would be in charge of what.
Meeting The Parents Part 2: Ultra monsters
Vaniville Town
Aki, Torax, Brut, Eyesight, Lord Great White, Saren, and Volten had been mainly staying within the premises of Lumiose City. The group of monsters had already made a massive impact on the town proper, especially the large shark monster Great White, whose videos of the teens riding into the region were still widely circulating online, and given the creature's sheer size of four meters, it was hard for much of anyone not to notice the presence of the creature. The paparazzi had essentially been streaming into Lumiose City, all attempting to vie for a chance for information, interviews, or anything they could get their hands on about what was happening, what the new creatures were if they were new Pokémon, and if they were the cause of some of the strange wave of energy that had engulfed the region a couple of days prior.
So many news outlets from all around the region attempted to send in reporters that Lumiose City simply had to close the town down from the press for just a moment of peace while they figured things out. Only a select few reporters were allowed to even come into contact with the monsters, who were all Lumiose City native networks, which some found incredibly unfair, but to not put too much pressure on the monsters and for the safety of the civilians, the police found it necessary.
The monster complied for the most part with everything the humans had them undergo, which was mostly just tests of various kinds and investigations involving what happened and, more importantly, how they did it. It took some moments, and once confirmed with the Alola region on their version of events, the monsters were mostly free to just lounge around and do as they liked in the area provided for them. Given what the teens had been trying to do in establishing their personal hero agency, they too were offered to join, and most of the monsters agreed simply to pass the time as boredom quickly began to consume them. Saren was the only one excluded from this, however, given his still debilitation from casting his spell, but he also agreed to go along with whatever the teens were doing, although he was still committed to poking into the Aether Foundation first before he shackled himself to being a different brand police officer.
The rest of the monster's thoughts on becoming "heroes" were mixed they did not hold back on how at least Eyesight and Lord great white didn't have the greatest fondness for humans to play around and be keepers for them at a continuous level, they agreed to help the teens only to repay a favor but to continuously help humans weren't something they were so interested in doing although given the circumstances and between that and doing nothing they had mostly no choice but to agree although their were a few stipulations that they would have which mainly stimmed to how much freedom they would posses which was complete freedom, this was hard for the police to accept given after some trial runs the amount of power that these monsters possessed even the teens that traveled with them when quizzed separately about these two monster in particular weren't the most trustworthy of the bunch of them.
This was corroborated with the Alola as reports came in on some of the monsters killing and consuming at least one of the trainer's Pokemon and threatening to even eat the trainer themselves, giving them absolute freedom was seen as fairly dangerous to the public at large, especially with how popular they would undoubtedly which brought the people to them, the police decided to run secrete test to see how dangerous or not the monsters could be by allowing them to traverse through the large city under a secret escort of not only officers but the legendary elite four pokemon trainers along with the champion herself Diantha, having taken notes from the alola region and the times they did battle against the monsters they knew that they possessed fairly formidable power and that if worst came to worst no traditional trainer or police officer could do possibly contain them.
Thankfully the monsters over the two days that had to be able to freely roam the city didn't get into many incidents at all even when their appearance had still been the cause of much buzz and often met with several camera flashes and crowding from random citizens, of course, nothing could be perfect as people would see the monsters kindness as some sort of invitation to be able to touch them freely this was answered by some acts of violence when it came to Eyesight the large snake women had caught the offending hand that was gliding down her tail as she was passing by which involved her grabbing the appendage with one of her large hair snakes completely wrapped around the person arms up to and including the man's neck and was strangling him while keeping a very smiling face all the while as she "warned" the man to watch where he touches baring her fangs for a brief moment before setting him down, this caused people to rightfully stay much clearer from her than the rest of the monsters that roamed about.
The other monster that had some trouble had surprisingly been the young teen Aki; it wasn't anything bad on the girl's part; it was just the girl not minding her strength when handling a few of the people that had been around her learning to have some slightly bruised hands with the girl. This was, for the most part, seen as normal; the "normal" humans that the monster had been interacting with for most of her life were more durable than the humans that existed now, so she had to accommodate for that fact. Even the "regular" teens also shared in this trouble, although to a somewhat lesser degree.
The only other monster that would need some time really off-leash was Lord Great White; while they assumed similar to Eyesight there may be some trouble, nothing truthfully happened on his adventures through the city. Most people simply stared and gawked at the monster, and some even asked if the monster could grow in size, referencing how large the monster had become from before, although the monster mainly ignored their queries. It did travel into the moat that had been nearby under the city and grew to its larger size, which had the unintended side effect of causing a car accident on one of the bridges at the spectacle of it all.
The other monsters each had a human form that they could take which allowed them to simply walk among the populous without much worry or care so they could simply travel anywhere they wanted without drawing much attention at all from people and were able to incorporate themselves fairly easily do to Sarens physical ailment he had to mainly walk on crutches or be supported by someone else if he walked for too long of a moment, despite looking like a regular person he was partially famous for those that stayed online often and monitored everything that had been happening in the region, his appearance on the beach and his interactions with one of the guardian deities Lele which involved not only making the pokemon disappear with a touch but also seemed to be capable of conversing with the creature casually so he had gotten many questions on that issue if he could speak to pokemon and what was his relationship with Lele or where did he send it.
He was cordial at least to most of the people who had approached him, although he got tired of repeating himself often and held no qualms about using his powers to get rid of the people around him that he perceived as annoying. This resulted in multiple people who had suddenly become blind or deaf, causing some mild panic within them as they tried to sort themselves out. The effects didn't last too long, only one minute, and even in his dilapidated state, he could easily escape from the growing crowds that would surround him. He knew of the humans that had been following him specifically appearing behind Diantha at the time; the woman herself was also in disguise given her popularity, but even with that, the man already knew she had been following him for some time and even knew who she was.
Despite a degree of fear that harbored in the back of her mind she decided to put on a friendly brave face given the monster's actions so far he wasn't one for absolute violence just for violence's sake and he even did the girl a partial favor and remarked that they could simply travel in the public freely if they wanted as he polymorphed himself and the women to look like two completely different people, showing once more that he was simply playing along with the police goal the entire time and that he could if he wanted not be found if he didn't want to be but the fact that he could also turn other people as well meant the same for all the monsters in fact which were something that Diantha was sure to keep in mind and note down for later but for the moment she accompanied Saren along the rest of his journey through the city.
In his weakened state he didn't feel like attempting to mind-read people to learn about its history and popular locations, the man was fairly liberal when talking about his abilities but she didn't mind that something told her that if he knew this as well she agreed as the two went into the public freely and openly, her discussions with the monster had been strangely quaint, from what she could gather his motivations for doing anything was more out of a sense of practicality then anything else, he wasn't an evil person nor would she refer to him as someone noble a mixture of the two could be appropriate he does possess a certain sense of justice, he doesn't particularly like those that prey on the feeble but he also recognizes that attempting to stop it from humans would be impossible so he didn't find it incredibly prudent to use his powers to monitor them or be a traditional hero in the teen's sense of the word acting more like official police officers where the word in his mind was more like exterminators of threats to humanity and mainly nothing more.
She thought it was an intriguing viewpoint and asked if that meant that he would refuse to join the Teens Heroes agency and to her surprise he said that he wouldn't, while technically not his forte they were still in a new place, and he's never been before and there was plenty of things he could potentially learn from this place to bolster his on abilities and the agency that allowed him a reason to visit or travel places that he may not have been aware of or people that might pique his interest, the women countered as she sensed a contradiction as she had it explained to her that his spell was used to scan for his other monster friends which she assumed he could use to learn many other things which he admit was true although if the teens times frames were to be correct he would rather just do it physically himself instead leaves him something to do also saves him other complications from using such a spell again, which once more grew the women's curiosity but he didn't expand on that topic much to her disappointment.
Since their two-day trial with nothing major happening with the monster inside of the city, they were now going to test how the monsters would operate outside of the city, this perfectly coincided with the ability for the monsters to introduce themselves to the two of the parents of the kids the teens had accepted in protecting, given their relative sizes they couldn't exit out of the gates of the city forcing Saren to use fly to get all of the monsters up and over the gate to the outside on rout 4, they would be heading alone down the long road and would be meeting the parents alone as well as a sign of good faith from the teens to the parent that they didn't have much to fear with them being around their children any more than that of a pokemon essentially, they knew that they were on the way and if they even slightly paid attention online they could likely to mark their very progress in coming forwards.
The monsters weren't exactly in a rush to meet humans they would barely care for but the teens insisted that they would like to meet them just to confirm with their own eyes everything, Torax was carrying Saren on his back given that the man still couldn't travel long distances, especially after using a spell just before but that was of no consequence to the large tiger growing somewhat bigger to accommodate him more comfortably even at the pace they meander at they could reach the Vaniville town in just under five minutes, their speed somewhat on display for a random passerby as it almost seemed like a large truck was coming down the huge road blowing dust high into the air but they slowed down dramatically as they passed by a large town that had been in the way here they were met by women that they knew of which was Viola the teens having told them about her and they had met her sister in the city which had no end of questions for them for their time togather, given what was about to happen in the coming day it made sense that they would want pictures of the monsters in more rula areas not just in the large City.
They only stayed for a few minutes before they continued on their way, but Saren knew that prying eyes would likely still be watching them and not want to bring too much drama into the parent's lives by being hounded by media asking what their connection to them was he cast a spell greater invisibility on each of the monsters preset as they left Santalune forest, it was the quickest way to lose anyone that had been following them unless of course they conveniently brought something along that could track heat signatures but the average camera person or reporter shouldn't have something like that or at least he doesn't think they would.
They exited Santalune forest and took a small detour around Aquacord Town to finally reach their objective, sneaking into the large compound that held off the area could have been achieved but given the relative size of the monster involved the group had been scheduled to meet in a plot of land some distance away from the small villa, where Grace would often come to train her children in rhyhorn racing when she had the spare time, the monster approached the area quickly enough as they had been greeted by the women in front of the gates, she didn't seem initially aware of course on their approach but with another spell from Saren which was True Sight it allowed her to see them and initially having seven intimidating beings simply spawn out of nowhere was surprising even to the normally confident women making her jump.
She gained her composure quickly enough and led them to the area where the meeting was to take place there they saw three additional people other than the expected two, one of them had been the first daughter of Grace who went by Yvonne Gabena or just Y, the other two had been the parents of Elliot which was Jack and Amy. Along with them being present, there were also a few Pokemon with them which included a Fongus belonging to Jack, a Nidoqueen belonging to Amy, a Fletchender that belonged to Y, and a Rhyhorn which belonged to Grace. The monsters saw the presence of the Pokemon likely as a safety precaution but didn't verbally comment on it as they approached, a similar story unfolded as Grace and Saren dropped the invisibility spell revealing them all completely to the shock of everything present.
The male, Jack, was the first among them to compose himself as he put on a straighter face and gazed upon each of the monsters individually. He offered his and his wife's names, which was soon followed by Y offering her own, which the monsters each returned in kind. Jack seemed to be the leader of the compatriots of humans as he first asked which of the monsters had been the one to cause that large energy wave at Torax used his Venus flytrap-like tail to pick the man up off his back and stand him up before he responded to the man and replied that it was him, even before the question was asked. Saren confirmed that yes, his current health was due to that spell, which the humans understood, and he asked about exactly what he did.
Saren complied and told them that he used a combination of two spells; the first one was wish in combination with something called commune with nature. He explained the seconds first which was easy he briefly became one with nature and gained knowledge of the surrounding territory but that territory was unfortunately limited to a range of a 10-mile radius at max so to save himself the time in using the spell continuously over the entire planet the first spell was deemed the better to circumvent that, wish as the name implies is anything he could think of however the wilder the wish the greater chance it has at failing so he wasn't some sort of God or anything like that he admitted which he thought would take a moment for them to comprehend or wrap their heads around however this doesn't seem to be the case with Jack who asked an immediate follow-up question.
His almost immediate follow-up was that could "wish" to be used for destructive purposes which his wife Amy and Grace found as sort of escalation but they stopped when Saren simply laughed as he remarked that he liked how he cut straight to the chase and so he would respond in kind and replied that it could be with a rather sharp monstrous grin as he took on his more monster styled appearance which put the others on edge but he still maintained that there were still limits to it, as he said before the wilder his wish the more likely it was to fail and 10 days of build-up would be for absolute nothing on top of that even if the spell did go off as they could see there will be drawbacks to it although this was to help the spell be completed in the first place.
The man wanted him to explain further and Saren did so remarking that as stated before the regular spell commune with nature would take a tedious amount of time and energy to perform on a global scale but the only thing he did with the wish spell was accelerate the time it would have taken to accomplish the task to do so immediately but he still took on the burden of doing the task in the first place, it was Y that questione why he would form the wish in that way if he could have just wished to extend the range of the spell to encompass the world, but her mother gave her the answer to that which guessed that it was likely to bring it more down to earth which allows the spell a greater chance to work which Saren agreed with, Jack also added that it likely also reduces the time he could use such a spell again assuming of course it had a cooldown he guessed which Saren confirmed that it did, traditionally the cooldown would be measured by the strength of the wish cast, it could be as short as a none at all, a couple of hours or as long as a years or decades but their would be a cost all the same.
The family seemed to accept that information for the moment before moving on to the next topic, which was the conflict in Alola, although Saren simply wrote it off as a misunderstanding, believing that they had been assumed to be one of the invasive Ultra Beasts that they have been dealing with, which Lele isn't too kind with, but they have managed to settle things at least for the moment. Amy was the one to bring up their home and phrasing it softer than what her husband would have and remarking that from what they heard, creatures like them weren't very accepted there. This got the monsters to somewhat change moods, their facial expressions darkening just a slight bit. Eyesight was the one that had responded, simply remarking that humans and monsters have their fair share of differences, leading to inevitable conflict. Lord Great White had a different take, which was that the humans of their home were more supremacist; they didn't care about anything that wasn't humans surviving.
Which Torax added was quite ironic, given that most monsters were originally human to begin with, Eyesight also added that even in other creatures, such as animals or the very planet itself, humans are the leading cause of monsterization in any scenario, which was surprising to hear for the people present. Volten did add on the additional context that this monsterization usually made the creature infected take on violent tendencies as their inhibitions were stripped away, leaving them to freely do whatever they desired, the man remarked as he also transformed into his monster form, becoming one with lightning as his body crackled with blue electricity, which was followed by Brut, who changed into his monster form, which grew scales and frozen frosted feathers along his body.
Grace commented that she was glad to see her curiosity sated by the three normal people of the group looking people of the group and how they look like, which prompted Jack to comment on why only certain of them have human forms and Volten answered that it was due to only three of them initially being human, he pointed to Eyesight and remarked that the large snake was initially an ancient snake species from long before humans was dominant, Aki was a bear which Saren remarked the closest approximation was an Ursaring, Torax was a tiger which was similar to a larger Torracat, Lord great white was the exception as he was originally a separate species from humans that went by seafolk.
Y was surprised by that and asked about the separate species, but when Lord Great White remarked that he was the last one, the conversation quickly derailed in an awkward pause. Jack, however, wanted more detail and asked what happened to them, earning only an agitated, quick response from the large shark monster, which was that the humans and seafolk went to war and they lost, as simple as that. Jack asked if he held any resentment towards humanity for it, and the shark monster paused for a moment but only remarked that it doesn't see this version of humanity as the same as the one that wronged them, and as he said before, it was a war; death is what happened, he remarked with a shrug of his shoulders.
Jack seemed to be about to ask another probing question, but Amy beat him to it, switching the subject once more back to something less personal and what they wanted them to talk about in the first place, which was if the monsters were also planning to be guarding their kids while on their adventure around the region. The monsters mainly shrugged at this, as they would agree to do so if the situation called for it. The monsters understood that they likely had their qualms about that given what they likely read about them, but for the most part, they could be called "domesticated" in a way that none of them wouldn't start anything for no reason, but Eyesight fully admitted if someone attempted something on them, then all bets were off, which she spun to be a good thing as if a couple of "examples" have to be set to assure that no one bothers their children, then that should be good for them, no? As she moved forward and slithered her long body around them as she spoke.
Hmm, Jack seemed to be in thought about that, but Grace was a bit less convinced as she didn't want people to be scared of her children in which case, and asked if they didn't' take things too far when defending them. Eyesight simply let out a sigh before carrying on forward toward the Pokémon, and Volten mentioned that technically they would all be under the police umbrella for the most part, so they couldn't do much more than what was necessary for them. This gained the group's attention once more as they asked about that, and Saren assumed the teens would have told them their plan to essentially become police officers for their tenure here for the moment, creating their organization, which he speculates will just be a way for the police to keep a close eye on them in the meanwhile.
This got the group to contemplate for a moment about how that would work out; however, it was Grace to broke the silence once more as she asked about where they would be staying in the Volten replied that the teens had seemingly found them a temporary home already somewhere not that far, at least to most of them, off the path of Route 5 somewhat near Camphrier town. They don't know the size of the place, and they were planning on heading over there after the conference to meet with the original homeowner as well.
Hearing about that and not wanting to take up to much of the monsters' time where they likely would have to go through even more talking they only discuss some brief topics such as if any of them have killed humans before which unsurprisingly nearly all of the non-humans transformed monsters have besides one of them that was which was the bear teen Aki although its parents had done so before this was a bit concerning for each of the parents naturally so all the monsters beside eyesight at least remarked that it was "in battle" and so far despite being attacked twice they haven't killed anyone so far besides pokemon of course.
The Pokémon next to them noticeably looked more serious amongst the group of monsters, although the topic quickly progressed past that as another question emerged, mainly from Jack, asking if he could have a full list of the monster's magical capabilities. Of course, Saren refused, citing that giving such a thing out would be unwise for both of them, so Jack altered the question and asked if he had any magic that was capable of altering memories, which the monster was being truthful about and nodded that he could, leading to another dreadful silence. Grace made a joke about hopefully not needing such a spell to take place, and Saren agreed there should be no reason to use such during their time there.
They continued to conversate for a moment longer before they were about to wind their conversation down but it what must have been a drastic sense of irony they did have to use such a spell once when Eyesight had caught wind of a person that had been watching them from the trees, the snake women had made a mad dash partially spooking the pokemon and completely blowing away the people by the speed the rather large creature could move at as it had snatched the photographer up in her clutches incredibly quickly, bringing him over to Saren to use modify memory and telling the man to forget everything he's seen so far and commanding him to go home before letting the man go free while deleting all of the photos that the man had managed to take, there was a fear in the eyes of humans at the use of the magic and the ease of how it was performed but Saren remarked that it would be the best for them as they began to take their leave so he wouldn't have to waste any more of his dwindling mana.
The monsters continued on their way instead of going invisible instead just using their speed so that none of the humans that had wanted to eavesdrop on them could hope to follow them even if they had a vehicle of some kind, they cut through the area they had been an took the river down which they expected people would lease expect bypassing the forest and the town they had passed through before along the enlarged great whites back before eating and traveling some more on foot with their speed and Saren already being able to tell where the place was going by is a connection with Sero who had already been there, as they continued their adventure however they had dramatically slowed down their approach from the sudden appearance of another pokemon, this was having leaped onto Eyesight.
Traditionally this would have been a death sentence, but as the creatures snaked along her body and entangled themselves with her snakes, she had decided to show the smaller creature a bit of mercy. The group had come to a saunter as Eyesight held the snake-like Pokémon within her grasp almost like a baby. The creature, Saren, struggled for a moment to recall but recognized it as being a Serviper. Soon after, ahead of them, another Pokémon and their trainer as well seemed to drop down from the sky; the Pokémon next to it was a pink Frillish. The trainer itself had a large coat that covered the entirety of its form; however, it did not speak, only standing there as the Pokémon seemed to speak for the individual.
The serviper spoke first its voice coming out completely flat and straight, it first offered a greeting to the ultra-monsters which Saren hummed internally but pretended not to be paying too much attention. The serviper remarked that they were coming to request their assistance with something of theirs, Eyesight somewhat being somewhat interested asked what the small snake would need help with although the snake remarked that this wasn't true form and it as using the minions to communicate with them pointing its tail at the stationary human and pokemon further ahead of them.
It told them about how it was part of a Pokemon resistance, assuming by now they understood how the world they now found themselves in works and how humans have been caprtuing and using Pokemon for sport in their blood games causing Eyesight to let off a small chuckle at as she could assumed the rest of what the pokemon had wanted to say which was to turn the world around make pokemon the masters and humans the slaves instead which the serviper rapidly agreed with but they would like to take things an even a step further than that and make the entire world better suited for pokemon which the snake creature was inrugied about, Volten asked that the women wasn't considering going along with this ploy as he looked towards Eyesight but the snake creature simply shrugged her shoulder and remarked that she was just hearing the creature out who knows what could happen.
The snake asked once more if they could help them achieve their goals which gained a simple wave of silence from everyone until Saren spoke and remarked that they would need time to think about it, although it seemed Eyesight wouldn't mind going along with him to find out any more information that it wanted to tell them about which the large Lamia agreed as she commented that she knew her own thing about being apart of a plan to overthrowing humanity, the snaked seemed to agree and squeezed out of her grasp before wondering off along with the mind-controlled person and pokemon in front of them, Eyesight followed them along and promised them to be back at a later time which the group agreed with although as they continued on their way Aki grew a little concerned with what happened asking if it was alright to let the snake women go alone but Torax replied that the snake could handle herself well and new her limits.
Volten remarked that it would be better to learn about a potential enemy than to leave it simply to chance by refusing them outright and out of all of them their Eyesight as easily the greatest one that could sell being willing to overthrow humanity completely, which Lord great white drew some offense to although Saren affirmed that she was the only one of them that had been a part of the monster association which gives her better insight on how those types think brut asked if because of that connection would it be wise to send her and if she betrays them but Saren very much doubted that to be the case, the creature simply offered her the opportunity to try out some new food if anything he responded, making the young adult seemed worried for the pokemon instead in that case.
The group of now six monsters proceeded on their course and met up with some of the teens on their travels as they passed by an orphanage where they had been playing around with some of the children there; Kaminari, Aoyama, Todoroki, Momo, Jiro, and Toru had all been visiting some the kids not only just to inform Ms. Penelope that they were around just a couple hours away but to meet the monsters on their travels just in case some misunderstanding happens, the kids were all completely floored by the monsters present although seeing the absence of one monster however Jiro questioned what was happening and where Eyesight was, Saren remarked that she would join them at a later time. She was currently gathering intel that might intrigue them at a later date.
He didn't give much further detail until they were away from the kindergarten where he explained in some more detail about the potential risk of a Pokemon uprising similar to that of the monster's association, which rightfully got the teen's attention but he wanted to temper their thoughts and remarked that they didn't know what state such a movement was in, from what he could gather the partnership between man and pokemon were rather friendly despite what the humans are capable of doing to them, so he guessed that the movement wasn't a very popular one and was struggling to get off the ground which is why the pokemon in question came to them for assistance, as it would be easier to convince otherworldly beings of what was happening was wrong or unjust especially if they appear to look like them even referring to the teens themselves which were the same way with monsters back where they were from.
The teens for a moment took that in and started to consider what they should do about that; some of them had some inklings about some of the weird rules or regulations that revolved around the Pokémon world. Back before they were born and before the reset, there had been constant jokes comparing them to slaves or fighting animals, which after the reset they tried to fix, making Pokémon more akin to full-on sidekicks that fought beside the player instead of just for the player, making the jokes fall off a bit. Lord Great White asked them what they would do about them. Which they didn't quite know, it was a tricky situation similar to the monsters; however, similar to the monster's preserve in Kalos, there existed two places that the Pokémon could travel to if they didn't like people, which were protected by pretty powerful Pokémon in their own right.
This sparked the discussion of what exactly Eyesight's goal was in traveling with them and how they hoped that they didn't send the Lamia over there to get rid of them. Saren remarked that they had no such plot and the snake monster was operating on its own, and if she did wipe them out, then it would likely be due to their actions offending the snake, but he believed that the woman would only like to learn more about them, but she was free to do whatever she liked; no one was going to stop her, and barring they have a legendary on their side, then they don't need to worry about her life being in danger.
They thought it was still risky but didn't have a way to find where the snake monster had run off to without simply running around the region and wanted to give the monsters a bit of freedom however they would have some explaining to do with the police that had bee waiting at the mansion along with the others, the group continued forwards and eventually made their way to the mansion where they met up with everyone body, Elise was still surprised by the monsters appearance and the fact that they could talk as she greeted them and the monsters greeted them back, she looked at the size of Lord great white and was worried about the large monster is inside the house but the shark simply remarked it wouldn't spend its time in the home and probably just perch around the river a few kilometers away.
The second monster was nearly as large as tall as the shark monster but Momo assured the women that she would create a place for the snake to stay with her ability, they would just need to know where they would be able to plow the land to place a house and structure which Elise was glad to show them but first, she wanted to give them a small tour of the home and inform them of things she didn't want to be touched or moved, this was the first time had been in contact with each other since arriving or it would have been if Eyesight had been present, given that lord great white had been to large to enter into the house without him walking on his hands and knees the opportunity to explain what had happened to the snake was put on his shoulders.
The rest of the group continued inside the relatively unkempt house which Elise apologized for but the teens replied that it was no problem for them and that it would give them something to do and work on while they stayed and it had the extra benefit of helping the women not have to pay for such a thing herself which the women bashfully accepted the help, although she still wanted to lay a few ground rules which she created copies for each of them to have, inside the house, there had been about 10-bed rooms and a couple of spare rooms that could be converted to bedrooms if needed however Silver Chain and Bakugo would just live in hotel camphrier town for the time being so it wouldn't be necessary Iida didn't like such a thing, but ultimately he couldn't really do much to stop him from doing that, and it would leave more room for others in the house as well.
With the other rooms taken into consideration, there would be about 15 rooms available even if they assume that Torax and Aki would also sleep outside or in the living room, some members would have to double up on space, the girls would double up with the girls and guys with the guys the only person who had his room was mainly Saren, philosopher, Brut, and Volten given that they weren't as familiar with each other than everyone else and were adults compared to the teens that were around them which meant that for two rooms would require three people inside of it but Momo was able to function some bunk beds for them to fit all nicely which the guys chivalrously took the responsibility of dividing with; Kaminari, Sero, and Mineta took one while Iida, Midoriya, and Todoroki another of such rooms.
The group would spend most of the day just cleaning up the house with Elise around so they didn't mess anything up while moving their stuff inside; Saren would just prop himself on a couch so he could rest for the time being; he would clean his room whenever he felt like it. The next thing they needed to do was add some furniture and things such as a couple of additional beds along with shopping for food and groceries, along sanitary products for the house the good thing for them was that due to their abilities, they could save on transportation services for all the things they need this would take up most of their day and then the group would need to prepare for their meeting with the pokemon ranger for the next two days, there was some partial concern about leaving the people they were supposed to be guarding unguarded but Ash was talented enough to handle himself well and Elliot didn't seem to be under any fire by anything notable on their adventure so far.
None of them had seen X in person but Y had shown them pictures of the boy to see what he looked like now, the plan for the class was to move in and do some general housekeeping for the day and then for the following two days would be focused on training and practicing with the pokemon rangers which will result in their grand reveal to the public at large but that would be for another time as the group all began to travel towards Lumiose City once more to gra their things the monsters stayed back however, mainly just looking over the home ad the espurr that had came to visit once more which Elise got them accustomed to before ultimately she to left away off to do more get some more paper worked done dealing with the house.
A Conspiracy To Conquer: Ash Group, Madam X, Eyesight
Ash, Serena, Bonnie, and Clemont was once more surprised by th act that Midoriya and friends were going to be going away for so long this time but understood why they were leaving ad were happy about them fining a home and excited for them for being able to work with the pokemon rangers, all of them have heard about them in the kalos region and Ash had multiple experience of working along with them on his adventures even shaeding more insight on some of their equipment which was some sort of device which allowed them to control pokemon for a small amount of time that they had on their wrist, which Bonnie and Serena was really interested in and asked if the teens would show them it when the time came although Iida informed them that they wouldn't teechincally be apart of the pokemon rangers so they wouldn't be decked out in their stuff especially since they had their own support gear to manage but they would act as a sort of third option between police and ranger but he didn't want to ruin the surprise that they had in store for them.
They wished them the best and told them to message them if they ran into Team Rocket once more before they began to head off. Ash and his company continued on their journey to Cyllage City in the meanwhile they walked for a few hours, and Serena checked to see if the nearest Pokémon center was one that they would manage to get to before they should consider stopping. Moving on their path forward, they saw in the distance on the horizon what seemed to be a large station.
Clemont explained that the station that they were seeing was a radio observatory; it was a facility that would send and receive radio waves from outer space, and then it would analyze the signals with the latest high-tech equipment. None of them got what he was talking about fully, but the moment was suddenly halted when there was a rumbling in the bushes nearby. Serena and Clemont both shivered for a moment at the unexpected sound, but the thing that shocked them the most was that it was Meowth that had emerged from the small bush, but the most surprising thing about it was that it was bleeding from the face, several claw marks painting its face, drawing blood that slightly dripped down.
They were in for more of a shock when the Meowth spoke to them, asking for help, which tipped them off that this wasn't just any Meowth but a Meowth that belonged to Team Rocket, which put the group on edge somewhat, but the Meowth quickly fell over just as it finished speaking, causing Ash to run towards it in concern. Clemont looked around, thinking that it may be a trap of some kind, and Serena and Bonnie closed in along with Ash to go and see if they could help with the Pokémon, picking it up and placing it under a tree to get it out of the sun and get it to cool down a bit while taking a closer look at its injury. Bonnie asked for her brother to help as they winced at the twin claw marks that drew blood along the cat Pokémon's face. Clemont, not seeing anything, quickly brought out some wet wipes and a hyper potion spray.
Wiping away the blood on the Pokémon's face and getting it off quickly before spraying the hyper potion onto the Pokémon, now it was just a waiting game as the Pokémon's wounds had started to heal automatically, the claw marks along its face slowly disappearing from view. It took the Pokémon a couple more minutes to wake up as its eyes started to slowly flutter open. Meowth was a bit scared when he first came to, and it was revealed that he had been cornered by his mortal enemies, but as soon as he got up to stand, the wind was knocked out of him, and he fell back against the tree once more, and Clemont told the Meowth that it still needed to rest before trying to move again.
Clemont reached into his bag once more and got a flask of water for the small Pokémon, offering it, which the Meowth gladly took as it began to gulp it down quickly before finally finishing it off and thanking the boy as he gave it back. He thanked them for helping him out, but he couldn't help but notice they seemed a little suspicious of him, going by their looks, and Bonnie remarked that it was only natural given that they had tried to steal their Pokémon several times at this point, but Meowth clarified that this wasn't some sort of trap like before and that they, along with Jesse and James, were in real danger this time around. Seeing how they had been still a bit skeptical, he began to tell them of what happened, at least from what he could remember.
He told them how they had been eavesdropped on in their secret base and some random woman had come up to them with her Malamar and possessed them all; he didn't know what she commanded them to do after that, but something happened to snap him out of it, which was a convenient tree branch that had bonked him on the head. He had tried to get the other's attention, but it was too late, and before the Malamar could hypnotize him again, he clawed out his own eyes to diminish the effect before running away.
He looked around once more at the group in front of him before noticing that teens weren't with them and asked about where they were, which Ash only commented on that they had left to go do something else instead, causing Meowth to let out a large sigh and asking them to call them back so that they could rescue James and Jesse pronto. The group, however, still looked fairly unconvinced at the Pokémon's tale even though it promised them that it was on the up and up. They considered for a moment, but this was stopped when both Jesse and James suddenly came up from behind him and spoke about how much of a success it was that he had managed to isolate the teens from those pesky weirdos and now they could successfully steal the Pikachu.
Leading the groups of kids to once more think they were right in their judgment that the cat Pokemon had been lying but the Pokemon was still being honest as he told the group to look at the duo in the eyes and look how zoned out they appeared and how they were talking which was nowhere at all how the duo would talk like, the two proceeded forwards towards them along with both of their pokemon to either side of them and given the situation Ash suggested that the group retreats but as they went to turn around they were surprised when suddenly a cloaked figure had been there instead, Meowth told the group that, the cloaked figure was Madam X herself making Serena comment that it likely was just alias the person was going by and not her real name and Meowth thought that sounded better than the women just having a name with jus X. Ash took the moment to scan over the Malamar with his Pokédex, which read:
Malamar the Overturning Pokémon: It wields the most compelling hypnotic powers of any Pokémon, and it forces others to do whatever it wants.
Madam X looked over and locked eyes with the Pikachu, appraising it for a moment and deciding that it did look as strong as the duo had made it out to be and concluding that it would make the Pikachu its slave right that moment as she called for Malamar to brainwash it in the same moment Meowth shouted for all of them to shut their eyes, which despite their reluctance to trust the cat Pokémon, they all did immediately just as the light had been released from the Pokémon's stomach. Ash called for his Pikachu to use Electro Ball on the enemy to stop them, and the Pokémon followed the order exactly, shooting the attack where they last saw the enemy Pokémon, causing the light to end once more as both the Malamar and Madam X dodged out of the way of the attack.
Meowth once more pressed the group if now did they believed him and that they should try to run away for the moment and call for backup but as they attempted to sprint to get away, both Jesse and James had floated down from out of nowhere cornering them off as their pokemon continued to close in from behind them wobbling slowly towards them, James announced that Madam X goal was to use pikachu to take over the world and have the entire planet serve Madam X, Meowth called the plan nuts but quickly realized the irony of his statement and how it was exactly what they usually do.
Meowth once more thought it would be a good time for them to call their little weird friends at moment which Serena thought was a good idea however once she reached in to pull out her phone it suddenly levitated from her hands and into the air, this continued with Clemont entire bag as well which was quickly followed by Pikachu itself as Clemont attempted to grab his bag and keep it a hold of it but ultimately failing and falling back to the ground he remarked that the women was now using Malamar's psychic. The woman had called them fools as she gloated above them before chucking a thumb over into the distance and told them that if they wanted to try and get pikachu back then they would have to come to the observatory before flying away. Laughing all the while.
Ash could only grit his teeth as he looked at the cloaked women fly off as Bonnie, Serena, and Clemont looked around nervously Meowth asked now what they were going to do but Ash's goal was the same as always to go and get back his pikachu, Madam X said that they were at the observatory so that was where he was going to go but Clemont remarked that it could be dangerous and without Pikachu or the teens they don't know what they would be going up against if they are even inside at all but Ash didn't care if that was where his pikachu was at then that's where he was going.
He took out his froakie and fletching and told them about what was happening before he turned to Clemont and Serena asking if they were going to help him as well and despite the clear nerviness the two were under they both confirmed with a firm nod as they quickly continued forwards up ahead to the observatory letting fletchling to guide the way and scout up ahead, the gorup got to a large gate which had a large hole in the perimeter a massive one that essentially tore the thing in two, Clemont wondered allowed what could have done that before Serena pointed over to a familiar bike that they saw officer Jenny drive, the group wonder if officer jenny was already on the case in the investigating this Madam X person and Ash took that as a sign for them to go in and offer assistance as well, as he recalled his fletchling and had froakie lead the way.
Both Clemont and Serena did the same thing the only pokemon that Clemont had only his bunnleby at the moment while Serena hesitantly pulled out her fennekin as well informing the small fox about the situation and unlike the other two Pokemon present which seemed to be confident and ready to rumble with anything, Fennekin mirrored her trainer's mood entirely unsure and rather skittish with its readiness but the other pokemon carried it along as the group proceeded inside of the large complex keeping an eye out for anything that looked suspicious.
Inside the observatory
Inside the dark and damp room of the observatory lay a large pile of computers and hard drives stacked on top of one another; on top of this large pile that nearly stacked up towards the ceiling belonged Madam X. The woman sat on top of the pile as a queen would a throne, looking down at her subjects, who in this case were all of her minions along with two prisoners who were about to become minions themselves. They resisted, of course, but her other minions were quickly able to subdue them: her Seviper and her new Amoonguss, which was able to completely subdue the Pikachu while the Seviper managed to subdue the Chespin. Her two onions forced the Pokémon to look at her Malamar as it began to shine its bright light at the two Pokémon, who couldn't look away. It only took a brief moment for the two Pokémon to completely fall under its control.
Madam X let out a hefty laugh and welcomed both her minions to her cause before holding out her arms and telling Pikachu to come to her. The yellow Pokémon followed the letter, hopping up along the pile of computer systems to reach the woman and standing in her lap. She rubbed along the Pikachu's cheeks and remarked how she was confident that the Pokemon would do wonders under her care, but she had been rudely interrupted by her praise of the yellow Pokemon as one of her minions. This one, the human variety with blue hair, remarked that they had movement on their motion cameras outside.
Madam X laugh for a moment as she call them fools and didn't think they would have been dub enough to actually follow her there but this was part of the plan anyways as she called out into the dark behind her and told Eyesight that her meal were here asking if she wanted her to catch them for her but as the large snake creature emerge from the shadow widning forwards to get into the light her size nearly making her at head height of Madam X even on top of her pile of computer systems as the snake women looked at the screen for a moment and denied the help in capturing liking to hunt prey for herself, as she turned back to slither away before the snake left earshot however the human minion had spokemon up once more and verified that it would be better for them to collect more members for their group and suggest to leave the pokemon alive even informing the women that on top of the pokemon that they see on the camera, Ash possess another pokemon which was a fletchling and it was Jesse that actually requested for Meowth to be spared as well which was immediately backed by James as the two minions got on their knees.
Madam X hummed at that for a moment before asking Eyesight what her thoughts were, asking if the Lamia was willing to spare the Pokemon, referring to how the snake women called humans a delicacy for her palate, although Pokemon were also exotic to her as well. The snake seemed to hum loudly before she began to move some more into the darkness, her long tail dragging behind her as she remarked that she'd consider it; that was, if they didn't give her too much trouble, that was, she said with a monstrous laugh as the snake disappeared into the dark of the room and the hallways proper.
Inside Elsewhere
The group of kids quickly found their way inside the observatory and started to look around, their place had been caked in nothing but darkness and shadows none of the lights seemed to be working causing even more fright to tingle up the kid's spine at least all of them except for Ash who was still determined to keep moving forwards which the other three followed after a bit tentatively than the confident boy in the lead, they walked through the halls of the seemingly empty and abandoned observatory keep a constant ear out for anything that would get them an idea of where they would need to go but as they progressed for a couple of minted they still heard nothing ultimately the group had decided to split up and go their separate ways to cover more ground. Ash and Serena went one way while Bonnie and Clemont went the other.
Now that they had been separated into even smaller groups Clemont had to admit that his battle strength had taken a drastic hit with the split given his bunnelby and Bonnie's dedenne in comparison to Ash and Serena's Froakie, Meowth, and Fennekin so he planned to keep Bonnie out of danger as best he could he would have likely told her to wait outside of the building designing a robot to look after her but given his stuff was stolen he couldn't do that at the moment and it wasn't like the girl would listen to him in that case anyways given how stubborn she was, so his goal for the moment was to see if he could find officer jenny with her skills and Manectric it could be a definite boon for them and if he ran into Madam X first than he would hide and wait for his opportunity to get to his bag that should be nearby the women.
However in his thought process, he heard something through the dark hallway it was something heaving going by it as it dragged across the ground, Bonnie got closer to him and the sound seemed to be getting louder and approaching them before they could finally see something emerge from the inky dark multiple something in fact, it wasn't something he's ever seen before they looked almost like a large group of black Ekans proceeding down the hallways over the ceilings and on the ground racing towards them with mouths open that revealed sharp fangs, Clemont sprung into action a moment later telling his bunnleby to use mud shot at the many gaping maws that came forwards towards them it struck a couple of them but it barely had slowed the creatures down but he was shocked when some surprised him and shot stuff back at them.
One of the things that completely surprised him was a burst of flames that seemed to come out of the ones along the wall, given the small measure of light they could see further into the darkness into what seemed like the face of someone within all the large snake Pokémon, but darkness once more consumed them once more as the fire went out. He told Bunnelby to use his double slap next as they made a retreat back down the hall, and the small rabbit Pokémon's ears started to glow as they attempted to make their retreat.
The rabbit Pokemon had only managed to slap one of the snakes approaching which quickly the snake retaliated with an attack of its own launching the small rabbit into the side of the wall where it was embedded there for a moment before falling to the floor, Clemont could only watch on helplessly as the small rabbit pokemon was swallowed by a large ekans and took back into the darkness, he cried out for his pokemon but still had the foresight to keep running away with his sister in hand the girl incredibly spooked as well from what happened but the snakes were simply too fast as one of them had managed to reach around him and pull the girl from her under her brother's protective arms.
Clemont once more tried to hold on but there was no room to with the strengths the Pokemon possessed, but in that moment he didn't falter for a single moment as he rushed back in to save his sister as the room around them seemed to shake with a hearty laugh even as the snakes started to encircle around him, he had to strip off his sweater as one of them had grabbed a hold of his sleeve and kept moving towards the shadowy darknesses in pursuit of his sister which he could no longer see but he bumped into something in the shadows acting almost like a wall as he felt along the wall for a moment it realizing that it felt scaly and soon realized that this wall he bumped into must have been something and it made his heart race even quicker.
There was a brief chuckle that he heard ring out above him, which was followed by a womanly voice, almost like a seductress, as it spoke and remarked how he was "a bit of a touchy one." and soon as a brief light lit up the space, it was from none other than Bonnie's Dedenne using Nuzzle. The large being above him let out an annoyed hiss as it continued to look down at him, and he realized that the "ekans" were a part of the creature's very head, but he could only make out a shriek as the light began to fade, and the only thing he could think of at that moment was the monster with the woman-like face and jaw, which seemed to open impossibly wide, revealing four sharp fangs, which came barreling down at him.
Ash and Serena made slow movements forward although Serena realized this was mostly due to her Ash had slowed his movement down to match her tempo once soon after the split the boy had started to drift away from her and her fennekin, despite the circumstances and his pokemon being in danger Ash had still been considerate of her and how she was feeling which made her like him even more but it also made her want to consider his emotions so she put on a much braver act than previously and stated to speed up a bit in their search around the observatory, they didn't know what they would find inside of the place or where Pikachu could be but Ash was confident that he could find his way to his partner and remarked that they always shared a connection.
Serena couldn't help but admire Ash's confidence as he navigated the dark and ruined halls of the facility; even his Froakie showed no signs of fear or hesitation, simply dedicated to the task at hand, and she wanted to do that as well, if not for her but for her Fennekin as well. She was not unaware of her Pokémon's timidness, but after she started to put on her little act of being braver, she noticed that her Pokémon had also become a bit more calm and assertive as well, almost like the small Fire-type had been feeding off her energy, so for the sake of Ash and Fennekin, she continued forward with all the confidence she could muster.
The search sped up a bit until they heard something off in the distance, but they couldn't tell what it was. It almost seemed like a scream of some kind, but it also could have been the wind from the generators they had been passing by. They elected to keep on moving forward, however, and continued to search the place, coming into a rather large room. Inside of it seemed to be a rock of some kind located in its center above, hanging from the large ceiling where the planets of the solar system were. They proceeded forward, and Serena asked if they believed that Clemont had found some clues about where Pikachu was yet, but to her and the group's surprise, the one that answered that question was none of them but something else that had reached a large clawed hand over the rock model in the center of the room.
The light that was emerging into the room had been emerging from behind the rock creation reflecting off of it into the rest of the area but as the hand came forward they realized something seemed to have dropped down which completely blocked out the light source making it case and reflect off it instead the large being was caked in shadow only the outline of it being barely visible along with all the wiggling it was hard to grasp what the creature was, Serena cowered behind Ash at the sight of the being and Ash was worried as well as he took his pokedex out to scan over the thing but the pokedex simply had an error over the screen suggesting that whatever it was, it wasn't a pokemon.
Hearing that caused Serena to be scared even more and suggested that they attempt to run away despite himself; Ash was one to agree, but the two of them were stopped in their tracks when the creature laughed and asked if they were willing to simply abandon their friends. From the shadows emerged four figures: Bonnie, Clemont, Bunnelby, and Dedenne, each being hung onto by large snake-like Pokémon wrapped around their bodies. Ash immediately questioned the creature if it had hurt them, and it responded simply that it paralyzed them and how she likes to eat them when they are alive to truly savor the experience.
Ash remarked that he wouldn't let that happen as he immediately told Froakie to attack using Water Pulse. The blue frog Pokémon hopped up and attempted to aim for the nearest snake holding Bonnie in the air and attempting to strike the back in hopes of releasing it, but the attack never landed as Spike shot out from the darkness and completely burst the attack early and forced the leaping Pokémon to dodge while in the air as the seemingly bone spike skinned along its shoulder, but as it hit the ground, it soon felt the after-effects as its body ached in pain, causing it to stumble to a knee. Ash was surprised and asked about what was wrong, but seeing the purple sweat emerging from the Pokémon, he soon realized it had been poisoned.
Causing Ash to grit his teeth at the sign of Ash's struggle and the plight of her friends, Serena grew brave once more telling her Fennekin to use hidden power as three balls of blue energy coalesced around the open fox Pokemon's mouth it fired them off towards the creature center mass only for it to land squarely but as the smoke cleared showed very little results, as the creature proceeded forwards summoning even more snakes out of the darkness striking out quick and fast, Froakie was able to barely avoid one aimed at it by jumping upwards before Ash told it to use pound and concisely Serena told Fennekin to use flamethrower a burst of flames emerged from the fox pokemon mouth at the approaching snake but it seemed to do very little as snake simply went through it and smacked into the fox knocking it backward with a yip causing Serena to go check up on it.
Meowth had to pull Ash clear as well as he was too focused on his Pokemon in the air to notice the snake that had been aimed at him as well, causing it to miss but barely the shockwave of the attack knocking them away as well, Froakie attack was blocked by another large snake as well before it flexed and launched it back into the air where three more came at him, Ash not even having recovered from his tumble yet told froakie to use double team and it did use multiple after images causing the snakes attacks to go wide and hit the ceiling instead.
Froakie used the stuck snakes to jump up and back to its trainer ready for its next moves, they had been forced back a couple of feet and didn't even manage to land a hit against the being as it slowly stalked forward they could see the face a bit more clear now and could see the sinister smile on its face, the snakes they were fighting just now simply being its hair itself, Froakie once more ached from the poison and Fennekin attempted another flamethrower but once more the monsters simply let the attack wash over it completely unphased before striking out with its fire attack from one of its snakes which pushed its back and forced the fox pokemon to haphazardly dodge to avoid the brunt of the impact.
Something hard moved from the shadows of the room and struck along the side completely jumping the Pokemon and causing another yip of pain as it went sailing into the far wall of the exhibit area unconscious, Serena attempted to rush to her Pokemon aid but was stopped by meowth throwing her clear of the danger zone as two more snakes dashed in scooping the small fox up and taking it into the darknesses, Serena cried out for her Fennekin but Meowth continued to hold her back, Ash was getting even more worried about the situation as he took out his second Pokemon fletchling and commanded it to use razor wind blades of white aura came crashing down on the creature at head height it raised it arm in what seemed like annoyance before it mouth opened and out it extended a sharp tongue that was about to skewer the bird through if it wasn't for Froakie jumping up to avoid and striking along the extension with an bubble beam.
There was another gurgle of annoyance from the creature as the shadows around them shifted again this time Serena noticed and told them how long the body of the creature had been and how slowly shifting around them to trap them, noticing that Ash tried to think of a way out before looking up and noticing the planets above he asked Meowth and his Fletching to cut down the planets above which the two did, using fury swipes and the other steel wing, multiple of the exhibit planets hanging above started to fall on top of the large creature one of which was Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus which fell song the creature head and body, the creature reacted quickly catching each of them with her remaining snakes on its head making it look even more imposing with them standing up like that.
With its snakes covered Ash told both Froakie and Fletching to attack using bubble and razor wind the attack came out quickly making the snake raise a hand in defense once more causing a micro explosion that obscured it in its entirety, Meowth suggested that they make a retreat not wanting to wait to see the results as they spotted the door that exited into a hallway which Froaike and Fletchling indicted to the group continued to run towards the door and looked back just as the smoke cleared to see the creature completely unscathed moving towards them.
It threw the jupiter exhibit in their direction which both Froakie and Fletchling stopped by using pound and steel wing cutting the thing in half and allowing the others to make it to the doorway as Ash turned around he was shocked to see the two Pokemon not following along, the Froakie let off a few words and pointed for them to keep going forwards before launching a water pulse at the ceiling causing it to collapse downwards and make debris and rubble to block the doorway. Ash continued to bang at the debris screaming for both of his Pokemon who were fighting in the other room against that creature he could still hear the sound of conflict going on even as Meowth attempted to communicate what the Pokemon said it seemed to fall on deaf ears.
Ash seemed to stop when Serena hesitantly pulled on his arms in the hopeless endeavor before informing him that there could still be a way to save everyone and that they needed to find Madam X; if she was the one controlling that thing, then if they stopped her, it could let them get everyone else back. This was something Meowth also agreed with, remarking that Froakie commented about stopping the brain control and getting Pikachu. Ash banged his fist against the wall of Debris one more time as he took that in and made a promise that he would save everyone before turning around and giving them a nod before starting to run forward more determined than ever to quickly take Madam X down; the other two took a moment to look back at the blocked passage, but seeing the wall start to shift, they equally got into gear and started to run away.
As the three continued to run he had started Serena began to grill Meowth on not telling them all that they needed to know about what they were getting to and how Madam X had a monster like that up her sleeve but the cat Pokemon was honest in the fact that he didn't know what had been going on and that whatever that thing was it wasn't there by the time that he had left them, it seemed familiar to him somehow but he definitely couldn't remember where given how scared he was at the moment which the girl threatened that he should think harder or she would personally throw him into it the next time they run into it again making the small cat pokemon panic more but Ash cut their bickering off and remarked that they simply needed to find Madam X and with Pikachu he could defeat Malamar and free whatever that was from her control.
He was sure they were going the right way, and before long, the three merged into a rather large and empty room. Ash asked where they were, and Meowth commented that it might be the monitoring room they proceeded down some steps into the darkness and looked around for a moment only to hear something stir behind them as lights kicked on, revealing Madam X, Malamar, Jesse, James, their Pokémon, and Pikachu. The small rat Pokémon was sitting on Madam X's lap, and the woman opened her arms for the small rodent to go down, asking it to give a demonstration of its power.
The yellow Pokémon came down and immediately charged electricity from its cheeks and struck out, hitting Ash right in the gut, flinging him backward end over end as he clutched his chest from the pain, leaving the other two completely awestruck at the betrayal. Ash asked why Pikachu would attack him like that, and Meowth explained that it had been brainwashed by Malamar, which it could tell by looking into its eyes. Ash didn't want to believe such a thing was possible, but as Pinch charged a quick attack, striking him right in the chest, he was forced to believe it.
He could feel something, however, as the attack landed, like his Pikachu was attempting to stop itself, but it faded quickly as it came, and the Pikachu continued to attack, this time using Iron Tail. He was able to dodge the first one, but as the Pikachu continued forward once more, he was too slow to dodge the second. He was sent sprawling across the ground once more, his body aching in pain, and Meowth remarked to just give it up and that Pikachu was completely under Madam X's control, which Serena agreed with and suggested they go a different way about it, but Ash remained steadfast and wanted to believe that bond with his first partner would be stronger than any mind control, but a bone-chilling laugh caught him and the other two off guard as from out of the hallway. Revealed the creature from before, its head sticking out as it seemed to shimmy across the ground.
The creature remarked that it was sort of touching to still believe that he could do so but foolish to think that it would be of much use even if he did, before one of the snakes that made up her hair seemingly dashed faster than ever before, wrapping up Serena in its coils and pulling the girl screaming away, not even able to reach out a hand as Ash and Meowth only watched on helplessly as the girl's cries slowly came to a stop as she was face-to-face with the creature, which opened its mouth revealing its fangs and slightly jabbed the girl in the neck, making her go silent incredibly quickly into unconsciousness. Ash called out for Serena and his Pokémon as he gritted his teeth; Meowth was in full-blown panic at the moment, not knowing what they should do and screaming about how it was over.
Madam X seemed to acknowledge the creature's existence and remarked that the monster seemed to have played too much with its prey for them to come this far into the facility, to which the monster simply shrugged and said she always enjoys a bit of chase with her prey as the monster slithered out further into the hallway, showing both Meowth and Ash just how long its body was, nearly as long as an Onix itself.
As it went towards where Madam X was located, showing also the others it had captured inside of its long serpentine-like coils, it laid down the five Pokémon at the feet of the Malamar. Madam X laughed once more and remarked how once she mind-controlled these Pokémon, they would be joining the ranks of the others in the Pokémon patrol, and behind them, mechanical whirling sounds spooked them to turn around as several doors began to slip up, revealing several Pokémon in the shadows.
Each of the Pokemon eyes glowed with that familiar of being controlled, all five of them began to step forwards making both Meowth and Ash take a step back realizing that they were trapped they turned back around once more as Madam X began speaking again which told Pikachu to finish them off, the rat pokemon followed ordered leaping into the air and throwing an electro ball down at the two below both of them scatter back to avoid getting hit by the attack but the shockwave bounced them backward a bit more and roughed them up, Meowth found himself not hitting the ground and was caught in the malamar's psychic as the pokemon was dragged towards the mind controller and forces too look into the bright lights on its chest.
Meowth's screams soon died down as the Pokémon was lowered to the ground and went over with its other two compatriots. Even though he didn't like the Pokémon, Ash couldn't help but feel anger about what happened to it, but he had no more time to think about that as Pikachu let out a thunderbolt that completely shocked his system, but something in him told him to keep moving; he wouldn't let it end like this, not now. He willed his body to move forward through the shock; the pain seemingly fueled him to move faster and faster, never once thinking of giving up on himself but also his Pikachu, as he continued to talk to the Pokémon and tell it to break free from its mind control. He knew that he could hear him, but something was telling him he needed to get closer to touch his best friend for it to get through he finally managed to do so, touching the Pokémon on the shoulder.
It seemed to have worked as the Pokemon stopped attacking him and jumped back a step, Madam X admonished the Pikachu for stopping and told it to continue once more remarking that its bond with its trainer would soon be severed ordering it to attack again and the Malamar charged up a bit brighter when she issued the command as the Pikachu began to charge its electricity but the yellow pokemon had started to resist this time around which made Madam X curious although before anything more could happen from the exchange two of the pokemon that had been on the ground notably the Froakie and the Fletching seemed to come back to life in the moment and struck out against the Malamar using both water pulse and Razor wing. The sudden attacks took the Pokémon off guard, shunting the attack backward and having the secondary consequence of releasing all of the people and Pokémon from its mind control.
Everyone was coming from the commotion and getting their wits about them once more as Ash cuddled his newly freed Pikachu. Everyone in the exhibit focused once more as Madam X seemed to rise once more, shedding her large cloak to reveal that the woman was none other than Officer Jenny the entire time! The woman seemed just as confused as they were as she clutched at her head and attempted to think back to what she could remember, which was receiving a call for a strange disturbance and heading inside the observatory and meeting the Malamar.
The Malamar in question rose high into the ceiling more angered than ever going by its squawking but it was aimed at the creature next to it which simply let out a yawn and feigned attention to the Pokemon screeching, Meowth translated what it was saying and it was demanding Eyesight tell it what, it was playing at and why wasn't the pokemon properly knocked out, a stray snake from her hair completely lashed out slicing one of the tentacles of the pokemon clean off as the creature or Eyesight responded and remarked with a shrug that the pokemon simply got unlucky, the snakes holding onto Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena all came from around her back which she neatly laid them next to Ash before the snakes nip them in the arm forcing all three to shout awake almost instantly.
Eyesight pointed to Ash and remarked that this boy by association is off-limits to her so she wasn't able to eat any of them in the first place, this was when meowth remembered why this creature was so somewhat familiar and remarked she was one of them that had been in Alola, so their little weird friends knew her, Ash took that to mean he was referring to Midoriya and his friends, the Malamar was mixed with a fear of agitation before laughing once more, Meowth explained once more about what the pokemon was saying as it remarked that it would continue its plans for world domination nonetheless, taking the officer was just a proof concept that the weapon that they were planning was going to be effective which it thanks the officer for being able to get it, its materializes.
I would have liked to keep the prototype around for the practical usage of the device but since it came to this he couldn't let it get into the hands of any of them, the Pokemon remarked as it seemingly turned towards Eyesight once more and Meowth translated as the pokemon told her it would rue the day for taking the side of the humans which the monster wrote off once more and replied that it lacks in reason to be scared of it and telling it off for having to mind control others to joins its cause meaning it wasn't a worth one to fight for, to begin with, the Malamar grew even angrier at that before it glowed with a dark black aura which James recognized as foul play and then launched an attack Psycho Cut as two large purple slashes lashed out at the monster only for the Lamiar to react casually once more lifting its snakes along its head to block the attack, unlike the razor wind before this one bit deep and drew blood bisecting the fours large snakes she used to guard with and continued to keeping coming before she puked up a large staff to block the attack properly.
Eyesight was angry as she looked at the snake heads on the ground before shooting a flame from several of the snake heads the pokemon narrowly avoided the attack and created a massive hole in the roof which it used to escape from laughing and remarking that two of them were even now before flying off into the distance high into the air, there was no time to think as several explosion started to rock the facility and Officer Jenny said that they needed to get out while they could but there was almost no time for her warning to reach them as the sound of an explosion had already consumed them.
All anyone could see was black for a moment but could still hear themselves scream that was until they realized that they could still hear each other scream which caused a cascading effect of silence to quiet them as the group realized that they were still alive, they looked around and found that them along with their pokemon and officer Jenny had all seemed to be wrapped up in something feeling along the walls for a moment gave them a guess on what had them ensnared as the large body began to slowly unwind from around them and reveal the light causing most of them to flutter their eyes as the group adjusted.
They took a look around to find themselves in the middle of a crater that was once originally the observatory, Ash had immediately looked towards Eyesight as she had been dusting herself off and asked the large monster if she was alright, the women took a quizzical look at him and chuckled running a snake along his chin and remarked how nice he was to care about her given what happened and remarked that she was just fine. Speaking about before however Serena and Bonnie the two being joined by their Pokemon as well were correctly angry at the snake women for scaring them to death like that and if she was friendly she should have just said so from the beginning.
Clemont tried to reason that, she was likely just trying to not blow her cover against the Malamar but Eyesight straight up remarked that she was simply "having fun" and was even honest in the fact that if it were anyone else but Ash and friends she might have been tempted to just eat them anyways which she remarked with a small chuckle leaving the three to shy away from the monster in question although Officer Jenny remarked that it wasn't funny to play jokes like that with the kids but also remarked that she was happy that she decided to act against the Malamar when the time came asking for any more details that the pokemon gave her, while the kids got togather and got a head count of their pokemon and there things since everyone was calmed down the group could get a better look at the monster.
Eyesight was part snake as her long body tapered off almost endlessly, she possessed the upper torso of a person with purple skin, and along the back of her body laid her "hair" which was also multiple equally massive snakes with dark red eyes, she possessed a rather revealing top and with two large snake styles shoulder pads that seemed to be plated gold but the thing that frightened them once more was two-fold one was neckless around her neck and her waist was decorated with skulls. The shapes were all different in one way or another but they were confident that at least two of them resembled that of a humans which suggested to them that the monster may not have been joking at all but they left the accessary unquestioned as Officer Jenny and Eyesight looked around they had been searching for the others that had been around spotting multiple of the other pokemon wonder off into the forest mainly unscathed but some having some light burns from the explosion.
Serena asked about what happened to Team Rocket but Ash was confident that they likely made it out just fine on their own as well, Officer Jenny took a moment to get statements from all of the kids about what happened before she and Eyesight would leave back towards Lumisoe City to report on what happened, as she once more thanked the kids for their help in everything and Eyesight thanked the group for the time waster before slithered away at the same speed as motorcycle while simply making small talk with the officer in the meanwhile, the kids still couldn't believe the strange creature as they watched it leave, the amazement settled as the group turned towards one another and decided to get on the move once more, as the group put their pokemon back in their bags and proceeded to go forwards to Cyllage Gym.'
A sudden setback: Elliot, Calem
Elliot got up fresh and early in the morning, even earlier than he would normally do, as he prepared to face his upcoming challenge. He didn't know what to expect from his first handicap match, but he was going to try with all his heart. As he looked into his bag once more to take stock of all his recovery items, he had 2x hyper potions, 4 super potions, and 8x potions. Potions were mainly a stop measure for a Pokémon's wounds. While they offered the Pokémon a small regenerating effect, they also held diminishing returns the more and more they were in use.
Some skeptics believed that this was a sign of monetization weaseling its way into Pokémon battles. This would incentivize buying more and more options to make sure they had enough for their adventure, but others would comment that it was also for the animal's health. If people could just continually heal their Pokémon to full health, what was stopping someone from continuing to put it into battle after battle nonstop just for their pleasure? It was also why full restores had been fairly device items, not only paying a pretty penny just for one being about 5,000 poké.
His family set him off on his journey with only 30,000 poké which was fairly standard for new adventures, currently, he had about 23,000 poké remaining from that amount which meant he still had a good amount to spend even if he wanted to get the item, but the flaw of the items was that while it did restore the pokemon to full health the manner it did this was also dangerous in the fact it was reversing the state of the pokemon to before the battles took place usually back to the beginning of the day essentially, he's even heard stories of full restores reverting even evolutions entirely which was quite something to hear about as evolution in of itself almost acted like a free hyper-potions of itself even they still losing that badly after transformation would be something seriously to ponder about but he shook his head as he got himself focused once more at the battle ahead.
He eventually got ready, ate his food, and set some out for his Pokémon to get both Seakquake and Evergreen prepared for the battle ahead. This was going to be their big moment, and he did have to console Zoro on the fact that he wouldn't be able to battle for the moment, but he promised the Axew that it would get its chance and that during his next trainer battle, he would be the first Pokémon he chose, which the Pokémon yipped happily about. The first curveball for the day was that his guards were leaving him again for the day; they would be gone for about three days given that they were training with the Pokemon rangers.
Bakugo remarked that he could simply call the others if he needed help, but he also commented how he likely didn't need it given it didn't seem like anyone was gunning for him in the first place. He waved him off as they left and wished them luck; they had seemingly just left the building just as the group had departed, and the boy remarked that he should have told him about them leaving and woke him up, but Elliot remarked that he would have plenty of time to meet them again later on as he assured him to get ready so they could go eat breakfast and hurry over to the rock gym.
The two ate and attempted to discuss some strategies on what he was going to do, but ultimately since he didn't know what Pokémon his opponents were going to have, there wasn't much point in guessing other than deciding which Pokémon he was going to lead with, which in this case was going to be Evergreen. A courtesy glance around showcased that they weren't the center of attention anymore given that teens hadn't been eating with them anymore but they still had a decent amount of looks and a decent amount of people had come up to approach them and ask about them and their relation with them, given he didn't know how much he should say he kept most answers fairly vague and doing so he could tell which people that wanted to talk were just random people and who were undercover people from the press and their very nimble way they could navigate a conversation and get the things that they wanted, he managed to let slip that they had bee hanging around him for a purpose at which point he decided and time dedicated he leaves the establishment and head over to the Rock Gym.
On his way over he instructed everyone in their group chat to keep a hush profile about the situation dealing with the guardians and things of that nature and to in fact simply just ignore people who even bring it up to them which he got affirmative responses from everyone in the chat before putting his phone away and getting his head in the game for the final time as he entered into the gym cave entrance Grant had welcomed him in and Eliot asked the gym leader will he be monitoring his battles but the Gym Leader shook his head and said that he had three other battles to attend to and he would be his last before he closed shop early and head on his way on his business trip if he got through his challenges he would be his last battle of the day so the gym leader jokingly told him to don't get too far so he could get a move on early before letting off a small chuckle and offering hand as he hoped to face him later on in the day, Elliot shook his hand and remarked that he would try his best to before one ot he workers called for him to go into the arena.
Elliot followed along with the worker and came upon another doorway; this one, he entered inside along with Calem, and the boy was shooed off to the side in the stands while he proceeded forward. The arena was made of rocky ground spiking outwards, creating a circle of rocky outcrop that sheltered a smooth sandstone on the inside that dedicated the arena. As he approached the arena, he found that his opponent was already waiting for him; it was a woman who introduced herself as Manon, and she seemed a bit full of herself, believing that he may have recognized her from some famous Pokevision videos as the girl claimed to be a rising star, but Elliot remarked that he wasn't a fan of Pokevision videos, which pummeled her spirits, but he tried to raise them and said that she was surely good, though, but the girl simply replied that his "sweet talk" won't make him go easy on her.
Elliot simply rolled his eyes and remarked that he wouldn't want her to as the referee began to announce the rules of double elimination: either opponent could switch out between their two Pokémon if they wanted to, and then the battle could begin. Elliot and Manon threw out their Pokemon, and the battle was against Evergreen against a Solrock. Elliot sucked his teeth as soon as he saw the Pokemon, cursing the moveset that he brought to the competition. He had gotten two TMs in preparation for this, and the one he used for Evergreen was Stone Edge in place of his Vine Whip, which would have been helpful right now. He assumed the handicap matches would have types that were the reverse of the gyms to trip players up, but he guessed that he was wrong as the match began.
He wasted no time using his one super effective move which was leech seed, Manom was prepared, however, and countered with hyper beam doing a horizontal cut that destroyed each of the seeds that had been flying towards it before she countered with rock throw as multiple rocks levitated upwards and dashed towards his Quilladin he ordered it to use stone edge to counter glowing green rings of energy suddenly gathered around his pokemon body before dispersing into multiple large spiked rocks that launched off to mee the coming rocks, Elliot smiled as the two attacks collided and not only did his Quilladin have a superior special attack but the power of stone edge was a much more powerful attack as blew right through and struck the solrock directly the pokemon had only barely been able to avoid a hit center mass striking it along its side spines causing it to spin rapidly before it managed to correct itself.
The woman commented on how that was a good move but said that she wasn't done yet as she used another move which was morning sun the solrock lifted into the air as light seemed to shine down upon it making it glow a faint green and heal given that it was morning it healed a decent bit from the damage it just sustained as the girl smirked but he wasn't going to just let the girl have it as he commanded his pokemon to use leech seed once more, the girl told her pokemon to dodge the attack ad commanded her pokemon to use tackle, the solrock did so dodging out of the way of the seeds launched in mid-air at it before becoming highlighted in white as it charged forwards thinking of anything he could do Elliot told his Quilladin to use Rollout as the spiky Pokémon rolled into a ball and dashed forwards. The two attacks collided, and this time his Quilladin was blown backward, given differences in ability.
Manon didn't let up with just that either, as she then used Hyper Beam as his Pokémon was still flying backward. His Pokémon couldn't recover in time, making him take a direct hit as well. He yelled out to ask if Evergreen was alright, and as the smoke cleared, the Pokémon raised a fist, indicating that it was before quickly turning back towards its opponent. He promptly told him to use Stone Edge once more and then to ride the rocks using Rollout. Manon commanded her Pokémon to evade the rocks and used Tackle once more, which the Pokémon obliged with. Elliot thought that she was going to do that, as he then commanded his Quilladin to smash the rocks of the Stone Edge before attacking. His Pokémon followed his orders as it bounced, smashing each of the stones and powering up the attack. It began glowing with a large green aura that completely consumed it before the final fifth hit and ended against the charging Solrock.
While the Solrock is physically superior, the now charged-up rollout possesses much more power in the attack itself, leading him to come out with the advantage in the clash as the Solrock was flying down to the ground. He attempted to capitalize, telling Evergreen to use Leech Seed as the Pokémon was still reeling back. The large orange orbs struck the Pokémon, pushing it down even faster before sprouting and tying it to the ground, leaving it open to attack once more as green motes of energy coalesced and came back to his Pokémon, healing it for a moment. Manon told its Pokémon to use Rock Throw on itself to break off the plants containing it while launching others that attacked forwards to distract his Quilladin. It worked for a moment as his Pokémon had to brace itself for the storm of rocks as she used Morning Sun once more, but this left her open for another Stone Edge, and this time it was a direct hit, as four of the large sharp rocks rained down on the Pokémon, slamming it into the dirt, and as the dust cleared, it resulted in it being unconscious.
Elliot breathed a sigh of relief and praised his partner as the referee called the match the referee asked if he would like to switch to his next Pokemon which he agreed as he recalled his Pokemon and got seaquake ready.
They through both of their Pokemon out at the same time and it was revealed that his opponent held a lunastone so he was once more at an advantage given the TM he bought before the start it would be even better as he immediately used the move which was rain dance the marshstomp stomped its legs in a rhythmic pattern and suddenly above them clouds began to conjure blocking out the flights creating a moody atmosphere as the rain started to fall but Marono remarked that she was ready for it as she prepared for something like that as she used light screen as a sudden aura of clear orange energy surrounded the lunastone in a cube, Elliot slightly chuckled but remarked that, that would only bring them back to square one where he still possessed the advantage as he told seaquake to use muddy water, the marshtomp let out a small roar as it stomped its feet and the rain around them began to absorb down into the ground creating a bunch of mucky brown water around its feet that shot forwards towards the lunar stone.
Manon countered with moon blast as the pink ball emerged from the Pokemon and shot forwards clashing and creating an explosion of dust that was flung into the air, however, he was surprised when the Lunastone dashed forwards through the smoke and Manon commanded the use of confusion the rainbow-colored ray dashed and seaquake sending it back but it recovered quickly and he countered with a Rock Slide his marshstomp slapped both of his fins into the ground and then quickly rose them into the air dragging clumps of rocks directly towards the Lunastone, to his surprise Manon countered with protect. As on top of the orange cube, a white aura circled the Pokemon so as the rocks entered into the first area of defense they had shunned dramatically before encountering the second barrier and simply bouncing off completely allowing the Pokemon to rush forward once more and use another confusion blasting seaquake once more but it was able to recover once more with no ill effect.
He used muddy water once more to drive the lunastone back and to counter once more she used moon blast the two attacks once more canceled each other out and this time both of them simply allowed the attacks to dissipate, the light screen had finally dissolved after that last attack before looking at the situation at hand, Elliot couldn't help but laugh for a moment as he remarked that it seemed the two of them only have two attacks to use against each other and the women asked about what his other move was and he explained that it was none other than mud shot as he commanded and just as figured the move was dodged easily by the levitating pokemon. He still didn't understand exactly why Pokemon that had levitated skills were nearly incapable of being hit by ground-type attacks at least the ones that resulted in projectiles but that was how the game was played he guessed.
The girl let off a chuckle of her own and guessed that meant it all came down to how they used their two moves in combination with the other Elliot nodded as he used rock slide once more before charging forward with muddy water on the ground, which Manon countered with rising into the air and using protect to block the rocks coming forwards towards it and avoiding the water on the ground the last water attack stopped the rain dance as the girl used moon blast from above which seaquake was able to leap out of the way which the women immediately followed up with confusion once more as seaquake was pushed back from the attack thankfully he still wasn't confused but he was in bad shape, he was trying to rack his brain on what he should do in this situation, Lunastone was faster and possessed better special attack stats so without the Raindance the moon blast will likely blow passed him she had light screen protect to give her some good defensive options as well.
He shook his head for a moment trying to decide before ultimately raising his hand and asking to switch Pokemon just as Manon was about to order, the girl remarked that he made a good choice in doing so and that his Quilladin would probably give her more trouble but she got the first move that could tip the scales in her favor as he needed to allow her to get the next hit for free, Seaquake seemed disappointed in itself but he told the pokemon that the fault was on him not it as he put the heavily breathing pokemon back into its ball before he took out his second pokemon once more, Evergreen was surprised to be out so soon but Elliot told it to grit its teeth and just be ready as he almost did the same, he wondered which move the girl was going to use and as the girl started the new match off with a moonblast as she commented about her not having much luck with confusion during their battle.
Elliot could only watch as the attack came and struck Evergreen hard but the girl's luck showed no signs of improving as there was no after-effect to her attack did the move was still a strong one as Evergreen struggled to come to a stop for moment but did so and he immediately told it to use stone edge the green energy floated around his pokemon before the firing off and shaping into large foreboding rocks that came at the lunarock extremely quickly Manon told her lunarock to use protect to brace for the incoming impact as the rocks collided against the white aura bashing the pokemon backward and breaking under the assault as Elliot continues to press his advantage using leech seed the pushed back lunarock couldn't avoid the attack and ended up wrap in the grassy bondage as green motes flowed back to his pokemon, he continue his combo by using rollout next as Quilladin rolled into a ball and sprung forwards, the girl didn't have much to destroy the vines so she used the only option she could which was light screen.
While this ability held no effect on his rollout it did affect the vines themselves as they immediately began to shrivel up by half but this allowed his Quilladin to land three attacks on the trapped Pokemon before the screen did its work and freed it allowing it to dodge the fourth and likely finishing attack as she attempted to use confusion once more the attack landed but again her luck was bad as his pokemon was still ready to fight as he commaned the use of stone edge once more this time the women elected for her pokemon to dodge the attack ad he took the opportunity to use leech seed once again in the direction the lunarock was heading toward getting a direct hit and as the pokemon fell to the ground wrapped up.
Its energy was sucked out again into green energy motes; the lunarock finally fell unconscious, marking him as the winner, which he whooped at as the announcer called the match. Manon congratulated him but asked what his fourth move was on his Quilladin, as she didn't recall him using it, and Elliot simply remarked that it was belly drum, earning a knowing look on the woman's face as she wished him luck and hoped that the situation didn't get too dire for him to have to use it.
He chuckled and responded that he hoped so too as the announcer called that he had five minutes until the next battle and he was able to use any medication for his Pokemon in the meantime Elliot wasn't going to skip over it as he immediately took out both of his hyper potions and used it on both of his pokemon, he looked at both of their movements, especially seaquakes and was going to do some changes he had a tap on his shoulder making him quickly turn around just to see a water bottle enter his face from none other than Calem, he took the offering and thanked the boy while his rival complimented his skills but Elliot replied that he may have over thought a few things and he believed that he took to much damage from the first match but Calem was adamant that he still had it in the bag and just to keep a level head about himself and he was sure to win.
He thanked the boy for the encouraging words before he was asked to get back to the stands. He took one more look at his moveset before locking it in for the match as his next opponent took to the opposite stage. This was a wide man in what seemed to be traditional hiking gear on, maybe a boy scout of some kind, he thought as he introduced himself as Benard. The referee laid out the rules once more for the battle before finally calling for them to bring out their Pokémon, and they did so as Elliot brought out Seaquake once more, and he couldn't help but greatly smile as his opponent pulled out a Rhyhorn.
Elliot was quick to completely get the fight over with as quickly as possible by using rain dance, his opponent wasn't going to take the move lying down however at the same time he used stomp the massive Pokemon reared up on its hind legs just as his pokemon began to stomp the ground to summon the rain clouds which left him wide open for the attack as the rhyhorn jumped into the air and came down hard on his marshtomp as the rain began to come down, even before the dust settled he told seaquake to use water pulse to throw the large rhyhorn off him as Benard told his rhyhorn to use bulldoze, another explosion happened just as the smoke cleared as the rain began to coalesce down into the dust his marshstomp was thrown clear into the air while simultaneously the rhyhorn was shot flying backward sliding to a halt as it shook itself from the hard hit.
Elliot was pretty surprised the Pokemon was still standing if he was being honest but he quickly got a hold of himself as he told his Pokemon to use muddy water, seaquake obliged and started to gather a bunch of mud around itself before shooting it down to the ground in another act of surprise Benerad told his Rhyhorn to dodge the attack, which it surprisingly had the speed to just do so, before using Takedown as the Rhyhorn charged forwards at his falling Pokémon, and the only other move he had to counter was Mud Shot. The ground-based move landed but did little to slow the creature's charge as it struck Seaquake in the chest, knocking it flying backward, and he also noticed the Pokémon didn't take any recoil from the attack either. Benard remarked that that type of matchup wasn't going to be everything and that his Rhyhorn had been on many adventures and had fights with many water types in the past.
Elliot sucked his teeth and shook his head; he was getting over-eager. Type advantage was just one aspect of a battle, not something insurmountable with just the proper training. He asked if Seaquake was okay, and the Pokémon flinched for a moment before nodding its head as if it was okay.
Bendard ordered his Pokemon to use Ice Fang and once more he countered with water pulse as the rain coalesced around the attack making it much larger it struck the rushing Pokemon head first but it had once more muscled through it to land its bite against but that was fine he thought as he told seaquake to use muddy water and he was confident that it would finish the attack, it surviving the first was surprising and the second just confirmed that this was a high leveled rhyhorn he was facing but it surely wouldn't be able to survive three boosted water attacks no matter what he thought with confidence but that confidence shattered when as seaquake went to summon the attack it had flinched disrupting it and allowing his opponent a follow up move which it didn't waste which was another bulldoze an orange circle surrounded the pokemon as it stomped the ground sending out an orange wave that knocked seaquake up once more, Benard told his pokemon to use take down once more as it came crashing down as Elliot told seaquake to counter with water pulse leading to a rather large explosion a the two clashed.
The Rhyhorn emerged from the smoke limping but fell over quickly enough in front of its trainer, but the ref waited until the smoke cleared to call it, as when it did, it revealed that Seaquake was also knocked unconscious as well, making the round of the match a draw. Elliot had to hold back the feeling of discontent that welled up within him as he recalled and thanked Seaquake for his hard work before sending out his next Pokémon, Bendard's next Pokémon, which was a Nosepass versus his Evergreen. The rain from the storm would still last for a small amount of time, but it did not matter as he had nothing to use for it. More than that, he was surprised when Brendan opened up with Sunny Day. The move completely cleared the clouds and rain from the sky and made Elliot get an eerie feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach.
He told Evergreen to use leech seed once more just to check what type of fire type move the man may have but he didn't take the bait simply dodging around the attack instead as he came at him with a different move which was facade which Evergreen was able to avoid as well given how slow the pokemon was in comparison before he told it to use stone edge which struck the opposing pokemon but it failed to land critical damage as he used his first fire type move which was fire punch the nosspass large nose suddenly engulfed itself in flames and changed forwards striking evergreen hard sending him skitting on the floor just from that one attack it was already struggling to stand up suggesting that this was also a very high- level pokemon as well as he attempted to figure out some type of strategy to use, given that move, he could attempt to play the distance game but with how durable the rhyhorn was against super effective moves he couldn't imagine how many it would take to bring him down if this pokemon was the same way.
He shook his head and simply stopped thinking about the possibilities and just decided to risk it all anyway as he told Evergreen to use Belly Drum. The Pokémon responded by inflating its lungs and punching itself in the gut to a reverberating sound around the arena; it glowed a light blue and took on a red-colored expression over its body, indicating its increased state. As he once more told his Pokémon to use Stone Edge, this time the green energy surrounding his Pokémon was much larger, which morphed into even larger stalactite-like rocks that launched off at the Nosepass. It unfortunately did not land a crit, but it did nick the Pokémon, forcing it backward.
He continued this range assault with leech seed as his enemy used facade once more which suggested that his fourth move may not be a damaging type of an attack at least he had that going for him as just as the nosspass got close he found itself ensared by the seed attacks draining motes of energy from it and allowing them to go towards evergreen, there was a small lull in the action as the energy continued to suck away at the pokemon and give it towards his own he likely wanted to see if he would draw closer but he wasn't a fool as he simply waited for stone edge to finish cooldown to use it once more summoning large rocks to launch at the enemy forcing it to dodge by using its fire fist to burn the branches an escape but try as the battle continued to drag on as Elliot continued to cycle through the same two attacks he was inevitably put into the corner of the arena but he managed to get through the last of the sunny day which was a plus so he wanted to just go for it all or nothing as he used stone edge into rollout once more using the stones to power up his secondary attack in a ful frontal clash against a firefist.
He held every state advantage in the clash besides the type one, and this man's Pokémon was very high-level. What he was hoping for was a draw that would make a reset, but as the smoke cleared from the clash, it revealed that the Nosepass was still left standing, resulting in his loss. Elliot held a very bitter smile as he congratulated Benard on his victory before stepping down. Where he was comforted by Calem, the boy said that at least he gave it his all in the match and that technically, even if he won, given how banged up his Pokémon were, this match likely wouldn't have been much better anyway, which he couldn't deny, but he still felt like he could have done better during his first match and the beginning of his second. The two of them got something to eat and chilled for the rest of the day, and Calem asked if he would like him to wait for him until he got his rock badge, but Elliot declined, not wanting to stall the boy's adventure because of him, and told him that he would catch up when he could. They were all going to meet up again in Shalom City, and he wouldn't be one to miss it, remarking that as his rival he couldn't let a little road bump stop him, which the younger boy respected and acknowledged before giving a fist bump goodbye as he continued with his travels, leaving Elliot alone for the first time in his adventure.
End Note:
I guess it would be a good time to talk about Saren and his Magic here, as DND people could guess by the spells he uses he is a very powerful magic caster, he takes mostly after a Litch's in ability but without class restriction but a limit of 30 spells per day, he is also limited by still being a iving creature and he is also limited by his actions the more "heroic" the action the weaker his magic due to its origin and status although he does not know this as he still learning about it himself.
not too much to talk about at the end here about Ash and friends but the show continued on the road, the kid's first encounter with the monsters was fairly tense and unlike in the anime the Pokemon doesn't clichely tell its scheme while also giving them time to evacuate to safety with its failsafe as evil villains should do with such problems.
As for Elliot think of Benard Ryhorn Beng over-leveled and also having just eaten a Passho Berry for why it was so resistant I'm going off a playthrough for X's segment and the playthrough loss three times getting the cliff badge which will be mirrored here so, X doesn't go anywhere for a while
As for future progress, I'm currently writing chapter 24 which is taking a moment to chew through it's probably going to be the first 30k-word chapter or at the very least on the larger end of chapter length) of this story for this story so look forwards to that in five months but in terms of episode that would be episode 30 almost done with the first season and close to writing for the movie plot which will start and replace) episode 37 see you all next month!