Standing on the beach, I gazed out into the vast expanse of the ocean. Not a single land mass in sight. Just the endless gray of the overcast sky and the blue shifting of waves stretching out into the distance.

  We had left Shalour two days ago, traipsing off into the wilderness to avoid suspicion on what we were doing. Although my second plan had been to get a boat there, apparently boats weren’t allowed anywhere near the Tower of Mastery. Which was stupid. And due to how the land was shaped, I was now north of the tower.

  As I stood on the sand, staring at the endless sea as the wind whipped my coat, a cold feeling ran down my spine. As I imagined myself out there, I came to a decision. “I have decided. I don’t like plan B. I’m gonna think of something else,” I said as I turned around.

  However, before I could take more than a few steps, Rio grabbed the back of my jacket and pulled me back towards the water. “Oh come on. We have to at least try something? Especially since Coumarine was a bust.”

  That had been very annoying. Coumarine City was the first place I tried going and ended up wasting a day there going around the docks trying to get someone to rent me a boat. But the moment I started talking about going outside of Azure Bay, they immediately refused. Hell, I even tried buying a boat, but that was way out of my price range.

  “It’s not that simple, Rio,” I protested, not fighting as she dragged me a bit further before coming to a stop, but I also made no motion to get back up. “The island is supposed to be off the coast of Shalour, and I was just… hoping it would be in sight, or something.”

  “Well it’s not,” she said as she peered into the distance.

  “Clearly,” I scoffed.

  Scoly took that moment to come back down the beach, as she had gone around to explore with Diancie and Sliggoo. “There’s a Dwebble colony further up the beach, but other than that, seems like a rather secluded area.”

  As I looked around, she was right. I hadn’t seen a single Pokemon in the area, aside from a few Wingull in the distance. I sighed a bit and reached into my coat, pulling out Primarina’s ball before releasing her. She looked at me expectantly.

  “You were right,” I said with a bit of a huff as she just looked smug. “You get to go exploring.”

  She wiggled happily in the sand. “I don’t know why you didn’t just start by sending me off. It’s not like I haven’t been in the ocean before.”

  “I worry, okay?” I said with a sigh, stuffing my hands into my pockets. “Dee is with Cara, and you’re going to have to go far. Farther from the shore than I’m comfortable with you going…”

  What I got in response was a grin and nearly being toppled over as she gave me a tight hug. The only reason I wasn’t was Rio was still holding me up. “I’ll be okay,” she said softly.

  I sighed as I put my arms around her loosely. “We’re looking for an island. Keep an eye out for mega evolved Pokemon, and ask around about them. The island should have volcanic activity, and some big metallic stone pillars. Should be somewhere more West and probably North of here.”

  She nodded, rubbing her nose against my cheek. “I’ll be careful, papa,” she murmured before bounding off, quickly flopping out into the water.

  A huff escaped me, but I smiled. “Are you sure it’s out there?” Rio asked, her brow furrowing as she pulled me up back onto my feet.

  “Dunno,” I said with a shrug, dusting a bit of sand off my coat. “Supposedly it randomly appeared one day long ago. But I think the whole no boat rule around the Tower of Mastery is more to hide the island.”

  “That’s dumb,” Rio said, folding her arms.

  “Agreed.”

  “And the island has a dumb name,” she continued.

  I snorted. “Mega Island is a very apt, but uninspired name,” I agreed. But if it existed, and was something we could actually get to, it would solve the Lucarionite problem. And I might be able to find some other Mega Stones as well.

  What was concerning was that I hadn’t found anything about it. Gurkinn didn’t exist as far as I could tell. When I had asked Valerie if she knew anything about Korrina’s grandfather, she had just been puzzled. Korrina had never mentioned a grandfather, but she also admitted that she didn’t know the other girl very well. Gym Leaders were usually too busy with their own things to go and visit other Gym Leaders.

  It was concerning.

  I would have just gone and asked Korrina about it, but I didn’t know her and it felt kind of weird to just go up to her and ask. So instead I was out here in the wilderness, looking for an island that I was only fairly certain existed. All to avoid an awkward conversation. The more I thought about it, the sillier I felt.

  So I wouldn’t think about it.

  Which was difficult, because it was extremely weird. I had even asked the Joys and Jennys about it, and none of them had heard of Gurkinn. I was really hoping that it wasn’t going to be another case similar to Orsay.

  But as we had time to kill, I decided to turn my attention to the newest member of my family. Pulling out my phone, I was met with the rather startled gaze of the Rotom. They had probably been snooping through my messages again, or reading some of the notes I’d written down. Even after assuring them that I didn’t mind, they always seemed to get scared when I randomly pulled out my phone.

  “Hey there, little one,” I said softly. I really didn’t like that they were scared of me, but the longer they spent with me the more they seemed to relax. At least they didn’t accidentally shock me this time. Xerosic better hope that the Jennys find him before I do because it is on sight.

  “Uh… hi…” came their soft reply.

  I smiled at them. “Are you feeling okay?” It was a common enough question that I asked them occasionally, trying to get them to open up. They were extremely shy and withdrawn, which was made even more apparent to me when they hadn’t changed the shape of the phone. I knew they could do that, as the subject came up when a Joy mentioned her surprise they hadn’t. When they shape change, it means that they have merged with the electronic. What they were doing now was just hiding inside it.

  “Mhm,” they hummed softly.

  “Have you put any more thought into your name?” I asked with a bit of a smile. I had learned many things over the last few days. Firstly, they did not like being called Rotom, and would wince whenever referred to as such. So we were working on a new name. They had a text document for ideas, and I occasionally made suggestions.

  Second, they were so damn smart. Not just math smart, either. I had tested them with a few of the more complicated formulas that I could remember from my previous life, and they had done them almost instantly. Nothing I could think of stumped them. Sure, I was no math whiz, but I had been a teacher, went to college, and had subbed for some fairly advanced mathematics classes, so I knew some pretty difficult stuff.

  But no, not just that. They had completely created an app on my phone for my pokeblocks. They had been so proud and shy about it when they told me, and I was stunned. They explained that they took my notes, and ripped apart and studied the Pokedex program, using it as a sort of base model. They even put in a search function, where I could search by Pokemon, ingredient, energy type, or nutritional effects. And they did all of that in two days.

  When I had asked where they learned to do that, they were confused and explained that they had just figured it out. Which meant that some of the time over the course of the two days that I had them in my phone, they learned how to make a phone application purely off what was on said phone, without internet access.

  The third thing I had discovered about my new little electric ghost was when I did their nature test. They liked spicy and hated bitter. That meant they had a naughty nature… And it made me sad that I could see it. The little mischievous things they did. The way that they got excited at little things. How they kept doing things and then would panic, expecting to get punished when they were caught.

  Natures were never concrete, but there was a certain value to them. It definitely wasn’t one hundred percent accurate, and didn’t apply to all the ones I had tested… But there was enough evidence to say there was something there. Or maybe I was just seeing things that I wanted to see because I was aware of it. Either way I was quickly becoming quite fond of the little ghost.

  “I don’t know…” they said eventually, answering my question. They seemed to have quite a plethora of ideas about potential names, but were incapable of actually settling.

  “That’s fine,” I assured. “There’s no rush, or anything. And even when you do make a choice, you can always change it.”

  They seemed to nod their agreement before disappearing from the screen. I watched my phone for a moment in case they wanted to say anything more before putting it away. My attention turned to Scoly and Rio, who were locked in a sort of strength competition.

  Rio had Scoly by the horns and was being slowly pushed through the sand. The only reason that the large bug could even move the canine was thanks to her multiple legs giving her better leverage. But just because she had an advantage didn’t mean it was easy, as Rio was technically the stronger of the two if you went by sheer weight lifting.

  This sort of training was suggested to me by Gaston. It was good exercise, and he boasted that it helped with maintaining strength over long periods of time rather than just bursts. It had taken a few tries to get the two of them into it, rather than just throwing each other.

  However, throwing each other was still a thing they did very often, as evident by the flash of red as Scoly was sent soaring past me. The fact that the smaller Pokemon could yeet the over seven hundred pound bug was honestly a bit terrifying.

  Rio pumped her arms in the air, raising them in victory. “I win again!”

  Scoly grumbled as she walked over, bumping her head into me. I chuckled as I started to rub up and down her neck. “Of course the muscle of Team Speed Shell would win a contest of strength,” I said with a bit of a smirk. “How about you two race and see who wins that?”

  The blue dog seemed to freeze up as the bug horse immediately perked up. “Yes! Let’s race!”

  “I want you two to race to the Dwebble colony and back, but do not disturb the poor little rock crabs, okay?” I suggested as I gave Scoly a bit of a shove to get her head off of me. She was practically oozing smugness already.

  “Okay!” Scoly said as she got into position.

  Rio sighed as she also got ready. “Okay.”

  I looked the two of them over for a moment. “Go.”

  With that simple word they were off, barreling down the beach and kicking up sand. Looking at the three other Pokemon nearby. I could see Diancie, Sliggoo, and Eevee building sand castles. Everyone else had been left back at the gym, partially to protect Alma, just in case, and to keep Cara from doing something dumb. Even though she had really protested me going out with only six Pokemon. I immediately corrected her that I would have seven, as she had forgotten Rotom. And boy did she not like my sass.

  It took quite a lot of convincing, but I assured her that in the worst case scenario I could call Mewtwo for assistance. Thankfully that was enough to assure her. However, I had found out that Mewtwo didn’t have that long of range. Currently I was well outside of the range of their psychic marker. They didn’t know the maximum distance it went, but apparently Coumarine was right at the edge. But of course I wasn’t about to tell Cara that. What she don’t know won’t hurt her.

  My eyes were drawn to the little brown fox of the group. Her recovery had been going well, even though she spent ninety percent of the day sleeping, the time that she was up she’d been a lot more active. She seemed more alert and aware of her surroundings; less groggy when awake. Ever since her attempt to use Protect, I had been worried there would be some detriment, but Joy had said it was actually a good thing. The fact that she was able to use energy at all meant that she was healing well.

  Honestly I would have left her at the gym if she hadn’t insisted on coming along. It was honestly rather adorable that the little thing refused to leave my side. Although it was probably because she was overly dependent on me. When she did finally recover I hoped it wouldn’t be too difficult to break her of that.

  Sliggoo and Diancie on the other hand were an interesting duo. Sliggoo seemed to be friends with everyone, though I had noticed she gravitates to the Gravity rock and the bug horse the most. Meanwhile… Diancie seemed mostly curious about everyone else rather than actually being friends. She was friendly with them, but the way she looked at everyone else - myself included - was as if she had just found something absolutely fascinating in her pocket. And thankfully she had apparently gotten over the fight during training, and was actually a lot more willing to engage in it. Honestly it was worrying me how much she was getting into it… If she became as much of a battle junky as Rio and Keo, I would have a lot to worry about.

  Keo was another story. I had wanted to bring her, but she declined. Her and Hate were actually getting along, and I could tell that the little ice fox had replaced that fake Ninetails as a role model. Hate was a good choice for that, and Keo was learning a lot from her. There wasn’t too much of a power gap between the two, with the little fox being a bit stronger, but damn that Mightyena made up for it with experience.

  Hate was also tough as hell. She had taken so many attacks from Diancie that first battle back in the station. Got slammed to the ground multiple times by Gravity. Had part of the station's floor bashed into her. And suffered nearly a minute of diamond storm before being blasted with Primarina’s Aqua Jet. She hadn’t actually been taken out, and just played dead because she could see that they’d lost and lost her will to keep fighting.

  The one that Keo had become a tumbleweed with had been Impulsive, and the two of them had formed a sort of rivalry, but the poor dog was nowhere near the level of the fox now. The training that I had done had done well to increase her strength, but I was starting to realize that technique was something that I couldn’t teach. That wasn’t entirely a bad thing, as they were forming their own sort of techniques and I was pointing out the gaps and flaws.

  The only ones that seemed to have been actually taught to fight were Rio and Cara, and they were teaching others how to fight better as well. I was really curious as to who had taught the two dogs, but it was probably another Lucario. Hearing Gaston say they were rare was interesting…

  The sudden streak of something red flying past me brought me out of my musings as I watched Scoly struggle to stop and slide for several meters. There were several seconds of silence before I looked in the other direction, watching Rio struggle to keep running. She collapsed at my feet in the sand, gasping for air.

  “You didn’t pace yourself,” I said rather bluntly, not posing it as a question.

  She took in several more deep breaths before I got a response, “Shut…up.”

  I snorted before looking back over at Scoly, who didn’t even seem winded. “We’ve never had a race that far before,” she said, and I could hear the grin in her tone.

  “Mama…never let…us go…that far…” Rio confirmed, still trying to catch her breath.

  Thinking about it for a moment, I realized this was probably the longest the two of them had been away from Cara for at least as long as I’d known them.

  But now it was a waiting game. As I glanced out over the ocean, I thought about Primarina. She would be fine, I knew that, but at the same time I was worried. She was barely a few years old - and dang was that a weird thing to think about - and had spent far too much time alone.

  Maybe I could find another water Pokemon to join my family? It all sort of exploded on me without me paying attention to it. But that was fine. Having a big loving family was a good thing, right? A bunch of people and Pokemon that care for each other and do things. Better than any family I’d known, that was for sure.

  There was probably something psychological about that. Some kind of abandonment issues that drew me towards others with trauma and clinging to them. I hadn’t really noticed it in my previous life. Or maybe it was a new development.

  But it was weird that I gathered so many so quickly, and so easily. I was waiting for the catch. For the other shoe to drop. It hadn’t quite been easy per se… The amount of scarring, bone fractures, and the marks of old bruises that littered my body were a testament to that.

  However, that’s how it was in the games, right? How I had always played. Constantly gathering every Pokemon that caught my interest. The only real difference was that I could have more than six, and technically hadn’t caught a single one.

  That was an interesting thought. I’d never thrown a pokeball to catch anyone. It was always a mutual understanding. An offer. It felt a lot more genuine to me. All of them wanted to be with me, rather than me forcing them to be part of my team and essentially stockholm syndroming them into being my friend. That had honestly felt like the case in so many of the stories I read.

  Although now that I was thinking about it, I was fairly certain that stockholm syndrome had been disproved, or something? Irrelevant. Truly that was something that didn’t matter. There wasn’t even a Stockholm in this world as far as I was aware.

  Either way, it was obvious I had no intention of ever catching any Pokemon. Unless it was an emergency. The stasis that a pokeball puts them in could be extremely useful for a wild Pokemon in a critical condition. But even that would be a temporary measure for me.

  I shivered slightly as I looked up. It had started snowing. With a sigh, I moved more away from the ocean before starting to set up the tent. It took a bit longer than usual, as no one came to help. Rio and Scoly had started doing more strength competitions, and Diancie was showing off to the others by manipulating her diamonds to shape the sand. They weren’t very intricate, but the fact that she even had that much precision was impressive.

  Sliggoo used to make such a fuss over sand when we were back in Alola, but apparently she’d gotten over it. Thinking about the slug, I wondered how close she was to evolving. Did it have to be raining? That was the requirement back in the games. Snow probably didn’t count, so we’d have to wait till the weather warmed up, if she was even near.

  Evolution was just something I didn’t understand. It was about energy, I understood that much. The accumulation and density, but beyond that I didn’t get it. Evolution stones at least made some sense. Special energy that stimulated their own energies and caused evolution. But how did rain trigger it? Would artificial rain work? Was it just excess moisture in the air, or was it something else?

  Further thinking on that, how had I stimulated Rio’s evolution? The change from Riolu to Lucario was a friendship evolution. I hadn’t been lying when I had expressed that I believed in her, but we hadn’t known each other for that long. Hell, we still hadn’t known each other for long. If it truly was like that, there was really only one logical explanation and I didn’t like it.

  She had been so desperate for support and encouragement, that the moment I started treating her positively, she put me on some sort of pedestal in her mind. She had so readily called me papa… And from how the others joined in, it seemed that none of them had really thought about that possibility.

  And what made it all worse is I was only starting to think about this now.

  Too many things had been happening. Even now there were so many things that I needed to think about. Things that needed my attention. Almost every member of my family was suffering from some sort of trauma, some more than others. And just as everything was starting to settle, I got a new, wonderful, adorable little problem added to my life.

  This felt on purpose.

  I stopped, staring at the last piton of the tent, staring at it for a moment. That had to be it, right? A lot of things have been far too convenient to just be chance. Was this… did this have something to do with being the Bridge? I still didn’t understand that title. I jammed the piton into the ground, and stomped on it to make sure it was secure before sitting down just inside.

  Probably wasn’t a good idea for me to start getting existential. I had enough mental problems that I was avoiding, I didn’t need to add more to that. Although I had been feeling pretty good with my mental health… It helped being surrounded by family who actually cared. I knew having a stable support group was what I needed. Everything I knew told me that. I’d even been told that when I had gone to therapy so long ago… I had just…never gotten around to it.

  I was jolted from my thoughts as Eevee crawled into my lap. I stared at her for a moment before smirking. “You’re covered in sand,” I said as I ruffled her fur, trying to knock loose some of the sand.

  She huffed at me, but didn’t otherwise protest as I tried to clean her up.

  “Did they bury you, or something?” I continued, trying to keep from laughing.

  “Sand just gets everywhere,” she replied before yawning.

  “It does,” I said with a soft laugh, continuing to work sand out of her coat. “Did you have fun?”

  “Mhm,” she hummed in a positive way, closing her eyes and simply enjoying the attention I was giving her. Or she was falling asleep. One of those two.

  With a sudden realization, I reached into my bag and pulled out the brush I had gotten so long ago. It had hardly seen any use, but I realized this was perfect. Slowly I began to brush her fur, and it did a much better job of getting the sand out than my fingers.

  Eevee made little content, pleased noises, and I smiled. I had gotten all this brush and cleaning equipment for Pokemon, but hardly used any of it. I’d almost forgotten that I had it. Most of them seemed opposed to me doing it, but then again that was before we even went to Alola. But judging by the little fox’s reaction, she was very much enjoying it.

  Suddenly there was a blue canine laying in front of me, her head on my thigh. “Me next. Me next,” she said, staring at the brush, her tail thumping against the sand.

  I snorted as I looked her over. “Are you done playing in the sand?” I asked with a bit of a smile.

  Rio nodded. “If it means I can be brushed, then yes,” she said firmly.

  “You didn’t seem very keen on it the first time I offered,” I mused aloud, noticing just how much damn fur I was brushing out of Eevee. I had really been neglecting her coat since it healed and she no longer required the special shampoo… I needed to get back on that.

  “Well… that was from before,” Rio replied with a smile.

  I smiled back down at her. “Alright. Once I’m done with Eevee, I’ll give you a brushing.” I looked up at Scoly. “I’ve also got some shell polish stuff, if you want.”

  The large bug stood up a bit straighter and nodded. “Yes.”

  Looking around, Diancie and Sliggoo weren’t in sight. I suddenly had a bad feeling. “Where are the other two?”

  Before anyone had a chance to respond, there was an explosion.

  With a sigh, I leaned forward out of the tent to look down the beach. Diancie was using Gravity full force on Sliggoo, who was attempting to do something. My brow furrowed as my eyes searched for what exploded. There was a crater a bit away from the pair, but I couldn’t see what caused it.

  My brow furrowed. “What are they doing?” I asked the other Pokemon.

  “Training,” Rio said, sounding a bit confused at why I would even be asking.

  I rolled my eyes. “I know that. What kind of training?”

  Both of them shrugged, and I turned my attention back to the two farther away. Diancie was telling her something, her arms gesturing excitedly. Had whatever they'd done worked? The little slug looked a little out of breath, but pleased with herself, so that must have been it.

  As I watched, Diancie raised her hand up into the air and slowly her hand glowed in a tannish color as rocks seemed to form and condense out of the air. They grew and grew until there was a cloud of boulders three times her size, which was apparently to her satisfaction. I worried for a moment that she was going to send the massive boulders at Sliggoo, but instead she slammed them into the crater.

  Sliggoo had been watching extremely carefully, though I couldn’t see her expression. Was Diancie teaching her Rock Throw? Or Ancient Power? I got my answer as their focus suddenly turned towards the rock and she raised her head, mouth opening. The light blue glow of dragon energy shined from her mouth, and massive shapes began to slowly form above her.

  It was clear she was struggling to shape them, but the amazing thing was she was succeeding. And not only that, I knew what move that was: Draco Meteor. When she launched it, the resulting explosion was even louder than the previous one and reduced the boulders to little pieces.

  Diancie had an almost manic grin on her face as she clapped happily. Sliggoo practically collapsed into the sand. It was slow. Clearly took too much energy. And they had been rather small meteors… But that was definitely Draco Meteor.

  I had so many questions. How did moves work? There had to be something that explained it to them. The fact that Pokemon could all learn similar things at an almost instinctual level. It was similar to how I used Sucker Punch, or Shadow Claw. It had been something I had done subconsciously. Like I had some sort of guide just below the surface helping to move the energy.

  A soft whine on my lap caught my attention, and Rio was staring up at me, giving me the most puppydog eyed look I had ever seen from her. “Brush?” she asked softly.

  I laughed as I shifted Eevee off of my lap. “Alright, alright.”

  The next few hours were spent brushing Rio, polishing Scoly’s scales, and buffing Diancie’s stony body and diamonds when she eventually realized what was going on and demanded attention. Sliggoo did not want anything, and preferred to have a sort of bath. I had to use some of the containers of water that I had, since Primarina wasn’t there to fill the pot that I used for the slugs makeshift tub.

  The rest of the day was spent lounging in the tent. I tried not to watch the ocean, trying not to wonder too much about how Primarina was doing. I had to remind myself that she was strong, so there shouldn’t be a problem. But the worry was still there.

  And that worry kept increasing as the sun started to go down, and the sky turned from blue to an orange. Thankfully, I spotted her off in the distance. She flopped onto the beach, and quickly made her way over. She looked a bit tired, but other than that she was fine. She also looked excited.

  “Did you find it?” I asked, going through my bag and pulling out a brush. Immediately she seemed to know what I was offering and flopped over my legs. I let out a soft “Oof” at the sudden weight.

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  “No,” she said with a bit of a huff. “But I think I know where to look?” Her head tilted to the side slightly as I started to brush over her fur.

  “Yeah? What makes you think that?” I asked, smiling a bit as I watched her lean against the brush every time I ran it over her.

  “There’s someone named Oby,” she said, her eyes closed. “A lot of Pokemon ignored me, but there was a friendly Luvdisc who suggested I should ask Oby. So I asked to meet them, and they’re going to ask.”

  I hummed thoughtfully, “Mmm. Well, sounds like we at least have a lead.” I’m sure that if I could just meet this Oby, I could use my tried and true food method to win them over. If even Mewtwo could be won over by food, any Pokemon could.

  It was quiet for a moment. “Do you think they’d be like Alma?” she asked softly, her eyes opening slightly to look up at me.

  I paused in my brushing, looking into those big blue eyes of hers. They all knew that the egg I had gotten contained the reincarnated Alma, though many of them had been surprised. The only ones that hadn’t had been the older Pokemon, like Cara, Dee, Immodest, and surprisingly Diancie. It was something that they learned later in life, or were taught. “Maybe,” I said softly as I rubbed the side of her face.

  She leaned into the touch. “I hope Alma hatches soon…”

  “It’s going to be a few months,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. I returned my attention to brushing her. After I was done with that, I made them dinner. It was honestly surprising to me at just how quick it was. I had forgotten how easy it was to just feed a few Pokemon. Even without the help of my three assistant cooks, it took no time at all.

  In the morning, Primarina didn’t even ask before shooting off into the water, shouting something about how she’d stay safe. Hopefully this Oby would be able to help, but more importantly I hoped that they would be kind.

  Everyone else decided to train. Diancie was more than happy to hit everyone with Gravity. I gave them a few more simple instructions, mostly working on stamina more than anything else. But Sliggoo had most of my attention.

  I crouched down in front of her, actually a bit surprised that I could do that so easily. I was lost in thought for a moment, wondering how I was so easily able to move under the Gravity all of a sudden. However her expectant look quickly broke me out of my thoughts. “You managed to learn Draco Meteor?” I asked, wanting to confirm that’s what it was.

  She blinked at me before nodding. “Yes. Though it’s really tiring…”

  Slowly, I nodded. “How did you figure it out?” I couldn’t help my curiosity. She didn’t know that move before, and while it was unlikely that Diancie could teach it to her, since she didn’t have it, I needed to be sure.

  Her brow squished, which I supposed was it furrowing. “Well, I… I don’t know? It was on the TV.”

  That seemed rather interesting. She had seen it on the Mystery Dungeon show? They did use a large variety of moves, especially flashy ones. I hadn’t seen Draco Meteor appear, but with how impressive it looked it wouldn’t surprise me. “So you learned it just by seeing it?”

  She shook her head. “I knew about it… But that was the first time I’d seen it. And… And since I’m a dragon, I could do it, right?” She seemed nervous, rubbing her little nub hands together.

  “You’re not in trouble,” I said with a bit of a chuckle as I reached out and rubbed her head. “I’m just really surprised. And I wanted to know how you figured it out.”

  “I… Well…” She squirmed a bit. “I watch Diancie a lot… And she does… The rock thing. And I wanted to do that. And I knew about Draco Meteor…”

  “So you asked her how she did it?” I asked, and she nodded. “That is really amazing, Sliggoo.” I couldn’t help the massive smile on my face. She had been able to figure it out just by seeing it, and then seeing a similar move of a different energy type. There had to be some kind of instinctual thing going on.

  She squirmed a bit more, but I realized that it wasn’t because she was nervous or uncomfortable, she was wiggling in embarrassment from my praise. “Diancie is really good at controlling energy…”

  I nodded. A mythic would have a ton of advantages over other Pokemon, otherwise there wouldn’t need to be a specific category for them. “Diancie is really, really strong. And you’re going to be an absolute powerhouse.”

  Her head slowly tilted to one side, clearly confused.

  “When you evolve,” I said with a soft laugh.

  That didn’t seem to be enough of an explanation as her brow squished again. “Evolve? When can I evolve again?”

  I shrugged slightly. “Not sure. But it shouldn’t be too far off, I think.”

  “So now, I want you to work on your dragon energy. Draco Meteor is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, dragon move, but it’s clear you lack the energy to use it right now,” I explained as I stood up, smiling.

  She nodded eagerly. “Yeah! I can do that!”

  And she quickly rushed off, channeling the blue energy. A bit of a smile pulled at the corner of my mouth as I watched.

  Until slowly my eyes wandered down to my hand. I raised it in front of me, staring at it. I could barely remember the feeling. But no matter what I tried, I couldn’t channel any energy. After a few hours, I tried to mimic what I did against Wulfric. Imagined the anger that I felt as I approached him and threw a punch.

  Nothing.

  It was clear I was missing something. Did it only activate in times when I needed it? Some sort of failsafe that I was given, to be able to defend myself in times of real danger? That was the only thing that I could think of.

  But how had I used Shadow Claw if I had dark type energy?

  My eyes wandered to Scoly and Rio, who were wrestling. Scoly had developed steel energy from being exposed to it so often from Rio. Had the same thing happened to me? Was I able to do that because I was constantly exposed to ghost type energy from Mikyu and Banette? But Scolipedes had several steel moves they could use, so they already had steel type energy.

  Maybe that was it? Maybe people had all energy types within them, and their Pokemon helped influence them? That would make so much sense if I looked at someone like Gaston. He was absolutely huge, and all his Pokemon were fighting types. Had their fighting energy influenced him and increased his size by proximity?

  It was frustrating to have only theories and questions with no answers.

  And it wasn’t like I had time to do the research. I wasn’t a Professor. Maybe Kukui would know something? He was a move expert, after all.

  I pulled out my phone, taking note that Rotom was asleep. They looked like a little icon, with little Z’s floating around them. Adorable little thing. But it was then that I realized that I was nearly outside of service range. I was still in it, but if I went any farther I’d be out of contact. I would have to message Adria and Valerie to alert them before I was out of range.

  It took a moment before Kukui groggily answered, “Alola?”

  “Alola, Professor,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. It was probably pretty early in the morning over there. “Had some questions for you, if you don’t mind.”

  He rubbed at his face, chuckling in return. “‘Kay. Shoot.”

  I took a moment to gather my thoughts, trying to figure out how to ask my question as succinctly as possible. “How do Pokemon know how to use moves?”

  There was a moment of silence as he looked at me, rubbing his chin. “Asking the real hard questions, eh? What brought this about?”

  “Sliggoo,” I said with a bit of a smile. “She was able to use Draco Meteor without being taught it. Figured it out after just knowing about it, and seeing it on television.”

  Kukui nodded, as if he expected something like that. “Well, short answer is we’re not sure. As far as we can tell, it’s like… Energy contains knowledge, and this knowledge somehow gets passed down.”

  “So in theory, a Pokemon can learn every move that its parents know?” I asked, rubbing my chin a bit.

  “Not just their parents. But their parents as well, and their parents, and so on and so on.” He waved his hand vaguely in the air. “It does get muddled and degrades over time, but can be stimulated again. That’s mostly how TMs work. They introduce energy containing the knowledge of a move.”

  “So it all comes down to energy…” I mused.

  He nodded a bit. “We’ve also observed it when Pokemon teach each other out in the wild. Energy is passed as part of the training.”

  “That explains how everyone is getting steel energy, since that’s Rio’s main focus. But…” I paused, there was this brief spike of anxiety in my mind. Kukui was trustworthy, right? I could trust him? I shook my head. “But what I observed seemed to be just knowledge.”

  His brow crinkled a bit and he sat up, and I realized he had been laying down. I guess it was extremely early for him. I’d have to apologize for waking him up later. “What do you mean?”

  “Diancie demonstrated Ancient Power, and somehow Sliggoo was able to turn that into Draco Meteor,” I explained.

  It looked like he was now getting up and moving across the room. He sat down before responding, “Similar moves, but very different energy types.”

  I nodded, and suddenly was mentally kicking myself for not recording it. It would have been so much easier to explain it. “Have there been cases like this?”

  “Yes,” he said slowly, and when he was suddenly bathed in an odd glow I realized he was now at a computer. “But they’re rare. It’s what happens when there’s too little of the energy type, or none at all... Or they're trying to use a move that is only similar, which is the rarest case.”

  “So it’s a fluke of Sliggoo having very little rock energy?” I asked as my brow furrowed a bit and I looked over at the slug. She looked exhausted from trying to use any energy so much. She really didn’t have large reserves like most of the other Pokemon on my battle team.

  “Yup.” Kukui nodded “But even then, it’s very rare," he tried to emphasize. "I only know of two cases. Do you know how many attempts it took?” His attention turned back to the screen.

  I blinked, realizing that he was probably noting this down. “I only caught the second success because of the noise from the first, but I can ask.” I looked over at the little slug. “Sliggoo?”

  She seemed to jolt slightly, turning back towards me and tilting her head as she made a questioning noise, “Mm?”

  “How many times did you try to use Draco Meteor before you succeeded?” I asked, moving over to her so that I didn’t have to raise my voice.

  For a moment she seemed to get a far off look, clearly trying to remember. “More than ten?” she eventually said.

  I smiled and nodded at her before turning my attention back to my phone. I could see Rotom peeking out near the top of the screen, apparently having woken up and being curious as to what was going on. “Sounds like more than ten times, but she doesn’t remember exactly.”

  He seemed to frown a bit. “That’s more than the other times. The others only took three and five attempts for a Pokemon to successfully use a move, though it was very weak and they had very little control of it.”

  “Could it be because it’s dragon energy?” I asked.

  His attention turned away as he nodded a bit. “Dragon energy is one of the more unruly types to control. Which usually also makes the Pokemon similar in nature.”

  “But not my slug,” I said as I scooped her up.

  She let out a rather loud “Eep!”

  “My big slug is well tempered and adorable,” I said as I squished her, getting quite a lot of giggles from her.

  Kukui laughed softly. “Well of course. The Goomy line is known for being rather meek and weak, despite being dragon types. It’s rare to see a Sliggoo, and even more rare to see a Goodra. You’re the first Trainer I’ve seen who actually trained their Goomy with the purpose of them battling.”

  I frowned a bit. “Is that so… Well, I guess I’ll just have to change that stigma. A well trained Goodra is an absolute powerhouse.”

  He looked at me for a moment, his eyebrow raised. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a combat Goodra. I’ve heard of some people using them in fashion competitions because of their adorable appearance. But a lot find their slime unappealing.”

  “Just wait,” I said with a chuckle. “You’ll see what she’s capable of in the League.”

  Sliggoo was practically vibrating in my arms, gazing at me with her eyes wide. “I’m going to fight in the League?” she asked softly.

  “Of course you are,” I said with a laugh. Her eyes looked so wide.

  “Well, I’m sure you know what you’re doing, since you’re the Expert,” Kukui said with a bit of a laugh. “Honestly, I’m excited to see what a Goodra trained for combat can do.” He yawned, rubbing at his face.

  I nodded. “First, I need to evolve her. Which reminds me… I know it has to be raining, but does artificial rain work?”

  He blinked. “Rain?”

  I blinked back at him. “Yes. To my knowledge, in order for Sliggoo to evolve into Goodra, it has to be raining. But I wasn’t sure if artificial rain would work, or if rain caused by Rain Dance would do it.”

  He rubbed his chin, his brow furrowed. “I don’t know. Evolution isn’t my area of expertise, and Goodra are an extremely rare Pokemon. You should ask Sycamore.”

  Judging by the look on his face, I was not able to school my sour expression at all. “Professor Sycamore is under house arrest for his involvement with Team Flare.”

  Kukui’s eyes were blown wide. “What?!” he exclaimed, before slapping his hand over his mouth and looking behind him.

  In the dark room behind him I could see a figure slowly sitting up, but there was no mistaking the glare. “Kukui,” I heard Burnet hiss, “It is three in the morning.”

  He looked tense, reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck as he laughed nervously. “Uh… Sorry, hun.”

  Her gaze slowly shifted to the phone, and the glare through the screen sent a shiver down my spine. Even Rotom quickly disappeared from the screen. “In my defense, I was not the one yelling. But I am sorry,” I said slowly.

  “And why. Is anyone. Yelling. So early in the morning?” she asked coldly, almost every word spoken with an odd emphasis.

  “Sycamore is under house arrest for assisting Team Flare,” Kukui said.

  There was a moment of silence, before she suddenly shot up out of bed. “What?!” she exclaimed, rushing to the phone. “Is that why no one can get ahold of him?”

  I actually leaned away from the phone without thinking about it. “I don’t know? Probably? I haven’t spoken to him in quite a while, and don’t want to, considering I’m the one that gave the information to the Jennys.”

  “You got Sycamore arrested?!” Kukui yelled.

  “He’s not been arrested, technically. He’s just under house arrest,” I defended. I wasn’t sure why I had to defend myself right now, but I felt it was a good idea. “And he’s technically only in trouble because he helped Lysandre, who is the leader of Team Flare. I have no idea how the investigation is going because I’m not part of it.”

  The two of them were silent for a moment, before Burnet leaned forward. “We’ll call you back.” And then she hung up.

  I blinked at the phone for a moment before I sighed and shook my head. “Oh the horrors of being married,” I said, laughing softly.

  My attention turned back to the training for a moment, making sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to and not going overboard. Unfortunately, going overboard with training was pretty much all Rio and Scoly knew how to do.

  The two of them were going full force. Both wreathed in silver, but Rio was crackling in that similar way to when she’d punched that Abomasnow. That was another thing I needed to find out about. While it certainly looked impressive, and made her look like a Super Saiyan, I needed to figure out why she was sparking like that. I hadn’t seen any other Pokemon do that. And I was worried it was hurting her.

  “Stop,” I said and they both immediately froze, snapping back to reality. “Why is your energy doing that?”

  They both looked at me for a moment and then at each other. Unfortunately they just looked confused.

  With a sigh, I moved over to the two of them. “Does anything hurt?” I asked as I started examining the Lucario.

  It took a moment before Rio shook her head. “No?”

  I nodded slowly as I took a step back, bringing up my phone. “Okay, I want you to do that again. I want to record it and ask Kukui about it when he calls back.”

  She nodded, and took a deep breath. She and Scoly locked together again in their little wrestling match. It wasn’t long before they both started to use energy and I started recording. What was interesting was that Rio was losing until she started to spark, and then they seemed to enter a stalemate.

  It sure looked cool. And from what I could see, it wasn’t causing Rio any discomfort. But before I had a chance to start theorizing, my phone started ringing. I stopped the recording before answering. “Alola.”

  On the other end was Kukui, and Burnet in the background. They had moved to a more laboratory looking area. “Alola,” Kukui said with a bit of a strained smile. “Sycamore really is under house arrest.”

  I nodded. “Unfortunately.” Although, I really could not feel sorry for the guy considering everything he had done.

  He sighed, running a hand through his hair. I realized then that he wasn’t wearing his hat. “Well, that’s going to be annoying… A Professor being found helping a terrorist organization…”

  All I could really do is shrug. “He ignored Lysandre’s mental decline. A lot of people did.”

  There was a frown on his face, and it honestly looked like something that shouldn’t be there. “As for your earlier question, the only other person that could probably help is Professor Rowan.”

  “Right… Do you mind sending me his contact details? I don’t have them.” I paused. “Never thought I’d need them.”

  “Yeah. Jeez, this is going to be a mess…” he mumbled, rubbing at his face.

  Burnet chose that time to come over, placing a mug down in front of him. I assumed it was coffee. “Alola, Jace,” she said with a bit of a smile.

  “Alola, Professor. Sorry about waking you up.”

  She waved her hand vaguely to brush away the apology. “It’s fine. Not the first time this man has woken me up. This was honestly something we should have been told about a lot earlier.” She sounded extremely bitter about that.

  Not like they could have done anything about it, but I was not about to say that. “Yeah. I’m surprised you weren’t.”

  “They’re keeping the news suppressed,” Kukui said with a sigh, sipping at his coffee. From the way he flinched, it was probably way too hot.

  “Of course they are,” I replied with a sigh of my own. That didn’t surprise me at all. “Well, not to just abruptly change the subject, but I wanted to ask you about something that I noticed while my Lucario was training.” I fiddled with the phone for a moment to send the short video.

  “Oh?” Kukui asked as he waited. It took a while since I apparently had a really bad signal. Eventually he got it, and as he watched it he suddenly nodded. “Ah, your Lucario is overcharged.”

  “Overcharged?” I questioned, trying to think back to see if I had read anything about it.

  “It’s a rare phenomenon,” he said, still nodding.

  Burnet chimed in, clearly a bit frustrated that he wasn’t actually answering my question. “It means she is producing more energy than her channels can make use of, so it’s trying to find alternative routes and bleeding off into the environment.”

  “Is it dangerous?” was my next question.

  And much to my relief, Burnet shook her head. “No. It just means that her body overproduces energy. The discharge is a good thing.”

  “That explains a lot,” I mumbled and sighed a bit. “But, glad that it’s not something to worry about.”

  “Usually it means that one or both parents were extremely strong, and maybe on the older side, since Pokemon naturally have more energy the older they get,” she explained. Which was interesting. I had no idea how old Cara or her mate were. It had never seemed important.

  Kukui seemed to have recovered from his burnt tongue fully now, as he added, “Lineage is important, but it’s not everything. It could also be a genetic fluke. Still interesting and rare to see. You really seem to come across a lot of rare things.”

  Wasn't that the truth? A thought suddenly occurred to me and I had to fight from grimacing. Lineage nonsense was why the Association wanted Alma so badly. “Alright. Well, I’m just glad it’s not something to worry about.”

  “Nope!” Kukui said with a smile. “Looks cool, too.”

  I laughed, and nodded. “Yeah. It does.” I glanced at the two who were still training, but I saw that Rio’s focus wasn’t entirely on the match, which meant she was losing. She still had that silver crackling around her, and I watched as it seemed to increase now that she had the confirmation it was okay.

  “I’ll send you Professor Rowan’s information,” Kukui said suddenly, drawing my attention back to the phone.

  “Thanks,” I replied with a smile before I got a notification. This would also be a good opportunity to ask the Professor about Team Galactic.

  “Something wrong?” Burnet asked.

  I blinked. “Hm? No?”

  “Your expression just got… Rather serious,” she said, her gaze rather scrutinizing. It was almost unnerving how well the woman could just read me like that.

  “Ah… Well, I just thought this would be a good chance to ask how active Team Galactic is,” I said and both of their brows furrowed in obvious confusion.

  “Team Galactic? Who are they?” Kukui asked.

  Now it was my turn to be confused. “They’re supposed to be a major criminal organization in the Sinnoh region.” Did they not exist? Or were they just not active yet? Wait, wasn’t Ash supposed to have conflicts with them?

  They both were frowning slightly and then Kukui slowly shook his head. “I’ve never heard of them.”

  “Alright…” Now I was questioning a lot of things. Of course, it would be better if Team Galactic didn’t exist, but it was also worrying. I honestly didn’t know what was more worrying: my information being wrong, or Team Galactic not being on the radar. “Thanks Professors.”

  “No worries, Jace,” Kukui said, his smile coming back. “Alola.”

  “Take care. Alola,” Burnet said.

  “Alola, Professors.” And then we hung up. I frowned, trying to think. I tapped at the screen for a moment to add Professor Rowan to my contacts before calling him. Rio seemed to be the only one paying attention to what I was doing, probably able to feel my emotions through my aura.

  It took a few moments before the screen flashed to show an older man with gray hair, huge sideburns, and a big bushy mustache. “This is Professor Rowan, who’s this?” He was seated at a desk, and I figured he was using a terminal.

  “Hello, Professor. I’m the Pokemon Expert Jason,” I replied.

  “Ah! The Expert that Gus and Sam keep talking about.” A bit of a smirk appeared on my face when he referred to Sycamore as Gus. Also interesting to find out that Professor Oak had talked about me. “What can I do for you, Jason?”

  “Had a few questions for you, if you have the time?” I asked, wanting to be polite to the man. He was pretty much on the same level as Oak, after all.

  There was a bit of shuffling as he seemed to check a few papers, probably looking at his schedule. Eventually, he nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got some time.”

  “Perfect,” I said with a smile. “First, how familiar are you with the Goomy line?” It wasn’t a line found in Sinnoh, so he probably didn’t have first hand experience with them.

  “Not very much,” he said with a slight frown. Though the expression didn’t seem to be aimed at me.

  “Well, the final evolution requires it to be raining. I know there are other Pokemon with similar environmental requirements, but I was wondering if artificial rain worked? Or if rain from the move Rain Dance would count?” I asked, moving a bit away from the training Pokemon so that their antics didn’t come over the phone, and took a seat back inside the tent. I should get a folding chair or something. I watched as all the Pokemon started to play more than actually train.

  He stroked at his mustache in thought. I had a twinge of jealousy, missing my beard. “While I’m not entirely sure about artificial, I’ve not seen any reports on that… But I know that something that requires it to be daytime to evolve can do so from the move Sunny Day, though it seems rather unreliable.”

  I puzzled this a moment, rubbing my chin. There were numerous reasons why it wouldn’t happen, but I had a few theories. “If I may make an assumption, most of the confirmed cases were in battles, and the majority of failed attempts were in controlled environments?”

  He smiled a bit, and gained a certain glint in his eye. “Ah, so you’re familiar with the battle evolution concept.”

  I wasn’t, but I could guess what it meant, so I nodded. “It makes the most sense from what I know.”

  He nodded in return. “Well, your assumption is correct. It is more often to happen during or just after battles while the effect is still in place.”

  “That is interesting…” I muttered. Not really the answer I wanted to my question, but at least I knew that something like Rain Dance would probably help Sliggoo evolve. However the little slug didn’t know that move, so she wouldn’t be able to do it for herself.

  I watched them as they started to play more and more, completely giving up on training to mess around. Rio loudly declared that the beach belonged to Team Speed Shell, and that they would defend it against invaders. It reminded me that they were all rather young. Well, aside from Diancie, but she was rather childish so I think that counted.

  But that brought my attention back to the phone as I remembered something I was curious about a long time ago, and Professor Rowan would be the perfect one to ask about it. “Thank you Professor.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said with a nod. “What else did you want to talk about?”

  “A few things about the Sinnoh region. Things that I’d heard about…” I glanced over at the group of Pokemon playing their little games. “What can you tell me about the Mystery Dungeon show?”

  “Ah, that.” He reached up and scratched at his sideburn. “They’re not being mistreated, if that’s what you’re concerned about.”

  “No, no. That’s not what I’m asking. But, good to know.” Considering I saw them doing quite a lot of battling, it was truly a good thing to know. “I’m just curious about who does the show, and where they got the idea.”

  His eyes narrowed a bit. “Well I can’t help you there. They got picked up out of nowhere about four years ago. They’re really protective of their scripts.”

  I nodded a bit. “So protective that they don’t even have their screenwriters in the credits.”

  He opened his mouth to respond before stopping, his expression turning puzzled. “Really?”

  Again I nodded. “They only list the production team, the director, and the Pokemon and their Trainers.”

  “Alright… that’s odd, and something that I am curious about myself. I’ll see if I can find anything, and tell you if anything comes up,” he suggested.

  “Alright,” I said with a nod.

  He seemed to study me for a moment. “Anything else?”

  “Yes, just one more thing.” I took a deep breath, knowing that this was either going to be a relief, or get interesting. “Do you know of a Team Galactic?”

  His brow furrowed a moment. “No. I’ve never heard of them.”

  I deflated a bit, trying to wrack my brain. This could mean so many things. “Do you know someone named Cyrus? Pale blue spiky hair? Looks years older than he actually is?”

  Now he just looked confused. “Yes. He’s one of my assistants.”

  That sent my mind reeling a bit. “Your assistant?”

  “Yes.” He seemed to shift a bit and call out. “Cyrus, could you come here for a moment?”

  If I wasn’t sitting down, I might have fallen over from the sheer shock as I watched Cyrus walk around the desk, glancing at me on the screen before turning his attention back to Rowan. “Yes, Professor?”

  “This is Jason, a Pokemon Expert. He has a question for you,” Rowan said.

  An expression of shock washed over his face before he composed himself and turned his full attention on the screen. “How can I help you, Expert Jason?”

  I stared at the man for a moment, studying his face. This was indeed Cyrus… “You’re Cyrus, right?”

  He nodded. “Yes, how can I help you?” he repeated.

  “Have you ever heard of Team Galactic?” There it was. That subtle shift of expression that screamed recognition and panic that quickly turned to a dead eyed stare of indifference. I’d seen it many times when I asked a student where they got test answers from. Those who aren’t guilty are shocked, or confused. Some people are good at faking it, but it takes a lot of practice to be able to pull that off. And Cyrus wasn’t that type of person.

  Of course, he covered it well as he shifted his expression into one of confusion. “Team Galactic?” He put on a rather thoughtful expression before shaking his head. “No… I can’t say that I have.”

  “Hm…” I rubbed my chin a bit. “Well, it’s good to know that what I heard was wrong, then. Probably just someone bored sharing rumors,” I said with a shrug.

  “Rumors?” Professor Rowan asked.

  “Someone told me they saw Cyrus talking to someone from Team Galactic in Sinnoh, but they didn’t tell me anything else. Since I had no idea who that was or what group that was, my curiosity got the better of me.” I could see subtle shifts on Cyrus’ face as I spoke. He was clearly trying to not ask questions and remain calm.

  Professor Rowan made a sort of thoughtful “Hmmm…” noise. “Well, I’ve never heard of them, but I’ll keep an eye out.”

  “I’d appreciate that,” I said with a smile.

  “Actually,” Rowan seemed to suddenly perk up, as if remembering something. “While I have your attention, I want to ask you about something. You being an Expert and all.” He turned back and gave Cyrus a pat on the back. “You can go back now, Cyrus. Sorry to bother you.”

  “No bother at all, Professor,” Cyrus responded with a smile, though it looked a bit forced. He then left the frame.

  So Cyrus knew something about Team Galactic, but they weren’t currently active or were at least keeping their heads down. Either way, that was interesting. Maybe Cyrus wasn’t the current leader? But then who was? “So what did you want to know?” I asked as Rowan turned his attention back to me.

  “I’m only asking because Sam suggested I ask you, but I’ve not gotten around to it…” He typed away for a moment and I got a text. “Can you identify this?”

  Opening the message showed a picture of a footprint. I frowned a bit, reminded of the nonsense I had to put up with, but this photo was actually well detailed and there were a few follow up pictures. “Well… it’s a Typhlosion footprint…but…”

  “But it’s too big,” he finished with a nod.

  “An Alpha, perhaps?” Of course, that wasn’t the only thought that popped into my head, but that would imply several extremely dangerous things.

  “That is what our own Experts and Rangers believe. However, this single picture of the actual Pokemon leads me to believe otherwise.” Then he sent another picture. It was of poor quality, clearly taken hastily and in a panic. But it removed all doubt from my mind.

  Purple flames. “Hisuian…” I muttered.

  Immediately the Professor perked up. “What was that? Hisu-what?”

  “Hisuian. A few millennia ago Sinnoh used to be a region known as Hisui.” I tapped my chin a bit. I mean, it made sense. Arceus had sent people back in time to Hisui, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to bring people, or Pokemon, forward to our time. But why…

  The Professor blinked a few times and looked down. “You think this Pokemon is thousands of years old? That would be quite impressive considering no one has seen it before…”

  I shook my head. “No, I believe it’s more likely to be time travel.”

  He balked for a moment. “You think time travel is more likely?”

  “Yes. Cases of it are fairly well documented.” I waved a hand vaguely. “Just take Celebi for instance. Or one of your own region's Legendaries; Dialga.”

  For a moment it looked like he wanted to say something, but instead slumped back in his chair, his brow furrowed and making his slightly wrinkled face look even more wrinkly. “Okay… So we have a… Hisuian Typhlosion from a few thousand years ago…”

  “An Alpha Hisuian Typhlosion,” I corrected. “Hisuian Typhlosion are on average shorter than a normal Typhlosion.”

  “Great… so we have a big, mean, angry fire badger somewhere out in the wilderness…” he muttered.

  “Actually, their temperament is much better,” I said with a nod and a bit of a smile. “They are known as guides for lost or corrupted souls and are capable of purifying them before leading them to the afterlife.”

  “Normally I’d have trouble believing that, but nothing’s burned down, and no one’s been attacked,” he admitted.

  “The more important questions, Professor, are the how and why. How did it get here, and why is it here?” I mused as I studied the blurry photo.

  He shrugged. “It popped up last year. We hardly have any sightings of it, despite its size. Those pictures I sent you are the only signs of it throughout the year. It’s been extremely elusive.” That was a bit odd, since there were only eight photos here, including the blurry one of the actual Pokemon.

  “That sounds accurate,” I said with a nod. “And it’s not caused any problems?”

  It took a moment for him to answer as he seemed to look through some files and folders, eventually shaking his head. “None that have been reported. Which is why it’s been such a low priority.”

  I nodded. “Well, if it’s still a thing after the Kalos League, I can come to Sinnoh and see what I can find?” Even though that was half a year away, I was already busy.

  It was clear he didn’t really like that answer, but he nodded. “Hopefully it stays not being a problem…”

  “It should. They’re really not like modern day Typhlosions,” I said, trying to be reassuring.

  All he did was sigh and nod. “Alright. Well, if anything, thanks for the information on it. I’ll note it down, and we’ll do a bit more research. As long as it doesn’t cause problems, it should be fine.”

  I was about to say more when I caught sight of something in the water. “Alright. Well, I’ve got to go, Professor. Thanks for the chat. If anything happens with that Pokemon, let me know.”

  “I’ll be sure to keep you informed,” he said before hanging up.

  My focus was entirely out on the water as I watched something approach. Two somethings in fact. One was Primarina, and the other was something massive that was almost the same size as her. It was mostly blue, with two large black fins extending out of its head above its eyes. And as it walked onto the beach, I got a much better look and confirmed what it was; a Swampert. But it was much larger than the average Swampert. Not quite Alpha size, but noticeably larger.

  “I am Oby,” they said, looking over the group of Pokemon until its eyes locked with mine. “Why do you seek the island?”

  Lucario - The group mom, battered and out of action

  Lucario - Craves violence

  Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit

  Primarina - Doing big seal things

  Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon

  Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people

  Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life

  Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy

  Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress

  Banette - Silent but persuasive?

  Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry

  Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.

  Liepard - Big hungry cat

  Houndour - Just a little pup

  Houndoom - Bit of a space case

  Mightyena - Super serious

  Fennekin) - Not up to too much yet.

  Rotom - Shy little zappy

  Houndour

  Guff

  Bleak

  Rascal

  Dilly

  Fret

  False

  Grubby

  Muddle

  Gabby

  Dwindle

  Crass

  Houndoom

  Poochyena

  Mightyena

  Sneasel