~ Wayne Explorer's Guild - Residence Hall ~

"Goodnight guys! Let's make tomorrow a great one!"

"Yeah! Have yourselves a good one!"

Traximus found himself overhearing the conversations between teams as he passed them to get to his room. The team, exhausted from the activities of the day, desired a long rest for the day ahead of them tomorrow.

"I'm not ready for tomorrow…" Rico stated, "I wish I could just skip over tomorrow and jump to the next day after."

"I wish I had that kind of power too," Traximus sighed, "But it's no use mulling over it now."

Traximus opened the door to their room. The team sat down in their respective beds, but found that they couldn't go to sleep just yet. Traximus looked between Palla and Rico, both of which looked considerably anxious.

"Are you guys okay?" Traximus asked, "It's been a long day, huh?"

"It's shocking to find out that Lively Town was attacked and destroyed within a day," Palla shivered, "This Team Blackhand is really scary…"

"I just hope that this test or whatever isn't that hard," Rico shuddered, "I hate tests…"

"Hmm… Oh, by the way!" Palla perked up, "Rico, what's your story?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah! I thought about it while we talked with Agent Wayne. You knew where you lived before becoming a pokemon, right? What else do you remember? It could help you tomorrow!"

"Palla, I don't know if what he remembered as a human could be useful here. We operate differently," Traximus tilted his head, "I think?"

"Well, I remember being a lowkey guy… I never truly liked attention like this, but when it came to it, I rolled with it." Rico tapped his chin, "I also remember doing some sort of sport, but my memory is hazy."

"What kind of sport?" Traximus asked, "Was it difficult?"

"I don't remember it being physically difficult. I also remember seeing some pokemon in it, but nothing like this."

"So was it a tactics game?" Palla inquired, "If so, you might be a tactical genius!"

"I don't think it was a tactics game, Palla," Rico responded, "But I can't remember the specifics."

"Oh," Palla lied back on her bed, "I don't know if I know anymore games. What do you think, Traximus?"

The Bagon sat down, "I think that Rico's past might be irrelevant here. Agent Wayne is going to test him, possibly himself, and if the test is specifically designed to test for humans… Oh man, that's going to be difficult."

The Froakie gave Traximus a disapproving look, "Thanks for the reassurance."

"You're welcome," Traximus then heard footsteps approaching their door, "Hey, somebody's coming."

When the door opened, Kroto and Kruler entered the room, visibly exhausted. Their smiles gave away to their high spirits, however. The Passimian in particular had a strange necklace that Traximus had never seen before.

"Where were you guys at?" Traximus asked, "And where did you get that necklace, Kroto?"

"Huh? Oh we went and visited Beruka and her team," Kruler stated, "He got that necklace from her."

Traximus then looked between the rest of his team, and back to them, "You guys spend a lot of time with each other. Are you guys… You know…"

"W-what!?" Kroto nearly screamed, "Hell no!"

"Yeah! What he said!" Kruler agreed, her face flushing, "We're just good friends, that's all!"

Rico laughed so much he nearly fell out of his bed. Palla fought hard to hide her smile, while Traximus snickered underneath his breath.

"Alright, Alright. I get it. Let's go to bed guys, we have a heck of a day to look forward to tomorrow." Traximus declared.

"Yes, let's!" Kroto snarled.

Moments later, Team Nova got into their beds. Each member of the team eventually fell asleep, one by one, and the comfort of the night washed over all of them. All of them, except one, however. Traximus found it difficult to sleep. He was rolling around and tossing about, attempting to find a position to sleep. It was evident that something was keeping him awake…

~ Sky Tower, Talgeria ~

The skies near Sky Tower were clear and calm. The air was steady and breezy, and yet, there was a wave of unease that washes over the slumbering Rayquaza. The sleeping beast's eyes twitched anxiously, as if he was anticipating something. When the serpent woke up, he was greeted by Latios, who happened to be flying with his sister, Latias at the time.

"Rayquaza, sir. What troubles you?" Latios asked.

"These rifts in space-time…" Rayquaza grumbled, "It's screwing with the ozone. But I don't have the strength to fight it off, especially after the Dark Matter incident."

"We can assist with that!" Latias squealed, "We can take care of these rifts if we contact Dialga and Palkia, right?"

"Yes, but…" Rayquaza began to rise, "I believe that the Spatial Key was obtained by some party of mortals just recently. If I recall, the mortals destroyed a prominent area of Gullveria to obtain it. That likely means that malicious individuals have gotten their hands on it. Furthermore, Lively Town was destroyed, meaning that Entei, Raikou and Suicune are exposed as well."

"What are these mortals doing? What are they after?" Latios asked.

"If I knew the answer to that, I would have intercepted them already," Rayquaza responded, "But nonetheless, this is a delicate situation that requires more tact than just brute force."

"So what do we do? Just wait?" Latias pondered.

"No, Latias, we must pit these mortals against each other if we are to limit our involvement. Remember the Kalgore war and how Reshiram and Zekrom got involved? There was a grievous loss of life during that time, and I for one, don't want to repeat our sins of the past."

"I see, but how do we plan on doing that?"

"I will need to make use of your telepathic powers… You will need to find someone suitable for our call."

"Who should this someone be?"

"Get me a dragon. Any one will do. But preferably one that hasn't evolved yet."

"Right. I'll be on the lookout!"

With that, Latios and Latias departed Sky Tower, leaving Rayquaza behind. Still, Rayquaza felt uneasy despite his plan being put into motion.

'I still don't think the assistance from mortals is enough to avoid total war…' Rayquaza thought to himself, 'It's only a matter of time until the region destabilizes, and another global catastrophe happens. Where… Oh where is that human when you need him…?'

~ Hakari Village ~

"Eternarifts! Everywhere!" A Chimchar screamed, sprinting in one direction.

"Wh-Where do we go!?" A Jangmo-o screeched, "Oh gods, brother! Brother, where are you?!"

Traximus found himself waking up in the middle of Hakari Village, near the fountain. What greeted him was complete chaos. Pokemon left and right were being attacked and defeated on the scene. Seeing this, he immediately bolted upright and began to sprint throughout the scene. 'What's happening?! This can't be real!' He thought to himself as he made his way to his home. 'Mom! What's she doing?! She has to be okay, right?!'

Coming to a stop at his door, he headbutted the door in, only to be greeted with a horrible sight. His mother was overrun, ferals of all kinds were swarming her, taking bites at her while others fired off elemental attacks. Traximus, seeing no reason to hold back, immediately began spraying dragon fire at the ferals, garnering their attention.

One Drakloak in the crowd of ferals fired back at Traximus with a dragon pulse, of which he managed to dodge. The Bagon retaliated with another round of dragon fire, leading to the Drakloak to fall to the ground, paralyzed. His mother then found the break she needed and, in one swoop, swiped at all the ferals, knocking them all away.

"Mom! What's happening?!" Traximus shouted, "Are you okay?!"

"Traximus, honey…" Haruka rasped, "Eternarifts… Your friends…"

"Mom! Mom!"

The Salamence collapsed onto the ground, causing Traximus to immediately sprint up to her. He checked for a pulse and found that she was still alive, which was good. But what was that about his friends and the Eternarifts? Seeing as he had no strength to move his mother, he instead opted to drag a tarp off the wall and cover her with it to keep her warm. He then moved back outside to witness the carnage getting worse. More and more Ferals were filing into the scene, but there was one pokemon that was standing with their back turned to the scene.

"Hey! You, it's not safe here!" Traximus shouted at the pokemon, "You have to get outta here!"

The Pokemon briefly turned around, enabling Traximus to get a good look at him. It looked like a tall and lengthy pokemon with some sort of tongue that wrapped around its neck. It merely stared at him for a brief bit before conjuring up what appeared to be some sort of weapon made of pure water.

"Wh-what are you-"

And in a split second, a bladed weapon sliced through Traximus's right nub, causing blood to splatter all over him, and a painful screech erupted from his mouth.

~ Wayne's Explorer Guild - Residence Hall ~

"Gah! Traximus! What the hell!" Kroto yelled, prompting everyone else to jolt awake.

The light shined through the window. It was morning, although Traximus didn't feel rested. His back hurt and his mind was on fire. "Sorry guys," Traximus rubbed his eyes, "I guess I had a pretty big nightmare…"

"I'll say," Kruler chided, "You were rolling so much it might make a voltorb blush!"

"...What was the nightmare about?" Palla asked, her voice quivering.

Traximus's eyes narrowed, "My home was attacked, and Eternarifts were about the scene."

"Then we had the same dream," Palla commented, "I remember seeing you unconscious near the fountain, but I ran away and bumped into a tall pokemon."

"What did this pokemon look like?"

"The pokemon was tall and lengthy, and had something that looked like a tongue hanging around its neck. It conjured a weapon of water and threw it at me. It missed, thankfully, but I ran away after that."

"That's exactly the thing that crippled me in my dream before I… woke up."

Palla gasped, "Does that mean our dreams are connected somehow?"

"Hold up. Weapons conjured from water?" Kruler pondered, "I know I use waterfall, but what move does that? I want to learn that!"

"Kruler, come on," Kroto chastised, "Time and place."

"Let's talk about this later," Traximus ended the conversation, "We need to get Rico's test done and over with today."

"Um…" Palla pointed towards the Froakie, "Rico's still asleep."

"Not a problem," Kroto declared, grabbing Rico by the shoulders and shaking him, "Wake up Rico!"

"Ahhh! I'm awake! I'm awake!"

The Froakie began yelling incomprehensibly before being placed on the ground. Kroto chuckled a bit before having a water gun taken directly to the face. "Okay, I deserve that."

"Hmph. I thought that Traximus's little shout woke you up." Kruler closed her eyes, "Guess you can sleep through just about anything."

"Okay, we're ready. Let's go see what Agent Wayne wants us to do." Traximus suggested.

Everybody nodded in agreement. Exiting the room and heading towards Agent Wayne's office, the team found themselves face to face with the boss of the operations. The Armarogue tapped the connection orb on his desk in wait for Team Nova to settle in.

~ Wayne's Explorer Guild - Wayne's Room ~

"Greetings Team Nova. This assignment is one given directly by Sergeant Garland himself. Designed to test the Froakie's claims about being human." Agent Wayne scanned the room, and seeing Team Nova silent, continued, "You will be hunting down an alpha. However, this alpha is not as strong as the alphas that were around Kira University."

"What alpha is it?" Kroto asked, curious.

"It is an alpha Cyclizar. It was also determined to be Terastillized."

"Terastillized? What does that mean?" Traximus asked.

"Basically, it artificially changed its type into something else. If the evidence is to be believed, then it is of the rock typing. You should have no trouble dispatching of it."

Kruler beamed a smile, "Oh great! Then we ought to-"

"But there is a catch." Agent Wayne added, causing everybody to fall silent again, "The Froakie is only to take the two dragons with him. I feel as if the help of two effective types against this threat will take too much heat off Rico here."

"Huh?! What?!" Kroto backed away, "But what if they're defeated?! Who's going to save them?!"

"Not to worry, I already have a backup team just in case." He turned to the door to the right, "Team Blade, your presence is requested."

At the call, Team Blade appeared from the side door. The Sceptile leaned against the wall, his smugness radiating about the room. "You called?" The Sceptile asked.

"Yes. Team Nova will need your presence, but not your assistance just yet. They are to cull the alpha that has been sighted in southwest Windlass Plains. Its trajectory places it on the route towards Hakari Village."

"What?!" Traximus and Kruler shouted. The Bagon was the first to take objection, "Why didn't you tell us this earlier?!"

"Hmph. Was telling you that a motivator?" The Sceptile sneered, "Let me remind you, Bagon. This guild is no place for kiddies wanting to play explorers. If you're gonna be here, then you're going to have to prove your worth."

"And that constitutes sitting out?!" Kruler snapped, "Come on, edgelord! Be realistic!"

"There's no use getting mad at me when the boss is giving the orders. We're just tools. Means to an end."

"Alright that's enough from you, Team Blade. Kruler and Kroto, you two will stay back. Traximus, Palla, Rico, you three are to take on the alpha with Team Blade providing you cover. Are there any objections to this plan?"

The room fell silent. After a while, Agent Wayne determined, "Seeing no objections, you will have thirty minutes to prepare. After then, you will be dispatched to the interception point. We will await your victory. You all are dismissed."

After a while, the team was prepared. Two reviver seeds, numerous oran berries, some max elixirs later and the thirty minutes passed. The members of Team Nova regrouped with Team Blade at the gates of the compound. The Sceptile scowled at Team Nova, "I hope you know what you're doing. For all our sake."

Rico merely sighed. "We're ready to go, right?"

"Looks like it. Alright, let's go," Traximus declared.

The path towards their destination was ripe with anxiety. Traximus couldn't help but think about the dream he had last night. 'Could the alpha be related to the strange dream I had last night? But I don't think there was a Cyclizar there. No, it has to be nothing, right? Just a random coincidence.' He continued walking down the path, when suddenly the Sceptile of Team Blade stopped their advance.

"We're not going down this path. There's a quicker way to get to our intercept point than through Hakari Village." The Sceptile deadpanned.

"Why not take the path through the village?" Palla asked.

"Because, you probably have too much sentimental value in that village," The Ceruledge chimed in, "And that would waste precious time that we don't have to be wasting on talking to villagers."

Traximus wanted so badly to unleash a dragon breath on Team Blade, but they were most definitely too powerful for him to take on himself. Instead, he opted for grumbling and following the Sceptile. The plains became ripe with hills and fields, lined with green grass. It would be nearly perfect if Team Nova wasn't being led by what Traximus considered to be psychopaths in the making.

A couple of hours later, Rico found himself dozing off, pondering things to himself. Palla took notice of this and nudged him, asking, "Hey, how are you holding up?"

"Oh. I'm okay, just a bit nervous…" Rico trembled.

"If it makes you feel better, I'm nervous too."

"Hmm…Thanks but that doesn't help very much…"

"Oh… sorry. I just thought that you could use some encouragement."

A trickle of sweat fell down Rico's face, "It's appreciated, though. I'm going to need all of it if I'm going to get through-"

Thud.

"Look alive fools!" The Sceptile shouted, "Our target's here!"

Thud! Thud!

"Oh boy! Showtime!" Rico declared, shaking his head, "Here we go."

The immediate area dimmed, the ground began rumbling. Looking to their left and over a steep hill, Team Nova noticed something that looked like a rock formation made of crystal charging straight at them. It juggled left then right, left then right. It's almost like…

"Cyclizar is charging straight at us! Move outta the way!" Traximus shouted, causing the team to split in different directions. Palla with Traximus sprinting south while Rico and Team Blade took the north. A few seconds later, both sides were blown aback by the sheer force the alpha Cyclizar brought with it as it sprinted through the formation.

"Alright Team Nova, show us what you got!" Ceruledge yelled.

Rico ran towards his teammates, drawing the attention of Palla and Traximus. "Okay, we need a plan. Leader! What do we do here?!"

"Remember what Agent Wayne said?" Traximus asked, "This thing's Terastallized or whatever. It's a rock type, so that means you're good against it. So, I'll draw its attention and you and Palla pelt it with as many water type attacks as you possibly can, okay?"

"Call it a plan!" Rico agreed.

With that, Team Nova rushed the Cyclizar. Rico and Palla ran right, while Traximus ran left. The battle started with Traximus launching a dragon breath directly into the Cyclizar's face, scoring a direct hit, and successfully garnering its attention.

"Guys! Now!" The Bagon shouted as he ran away from the Cyclizar.

"Okay! My target's huge, so I can't miss this time! Water gun! GO!" Rico spouted a water gun attack directly at the Cyclizar's back. Managing to get a hit in and making the creature roar in response. The roar was so loud, it caused the smaller pokemon to be knocked back slightly.

"Axew! What are you doing! Get in the fight!" The Ceruledge screamed.

"I-I'm trying! But I can't find an opening!" Palla responded, dodging a breaking swipe from the Cyclizar's tail.

"Then try harder!" The Sceptile bellowed, facepalming.

At that, Palla attempted to hit the Cyclizar with an aqua tail, finding a vantage point and leaping into the air. Unfortunately, her angle was miscalculated, and she missed, flying right in between the pit area and the thigh of the alpha. Her eyes widened as she was soon hit with a dragon claw, sending her flying off in the same direction Traximus was headed in.

"Palla! Palla!" Traximus shouted, "Are you okay?!"

Palla lay there, unmoving and unconscious. Traximus did the only thing he could do in the moment and administered a reviver seed, which immediately awakened the Axew, jolting her awake.

"Oh come on! What was that?!" The Sceptile scolded, "A blind Mudsdale can hit better than you!"

Rico continued to shoot his water gun at the back of the beast, causing it to hiss and turn around to face Rico himself. The Froakie gritted his teeth and jumped in the air, barely dodging a breaking swipe. He then had to do a flip mid-air to avoid being bitten by a crunch attack. Despite the high-intensity action, he felt himself adjust to his movements, becoming more and more fluid as he dodged attack after attack.

"Hey! I think I'm getting used to this!" Rico cheered.