TEEN: The Journey to Mend Broken Things

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 16: An Ideal Battle​

Nimbasa City is lit up not only by the orange sky made by the sinking sun, but also the lamps and bulbs throughout it. Emerging out of the Join Avenue entrance is Arti, Mary, and Kyurem. Arti runs ahead of the group to the theme park, eager for that rematch.

“Wait up!” Mary yells to Arti, hoping that he would slow down.

“Before you take on the trial again, you should remember how the battle went before and how you can improve.” Kyurem warns the excited hero.

“Sorry for going ahead, I just think I’m ready to take it on again.” Arti tells the two as he slows his pace.

The three reach the theme park and head right inside, going directly to the Pokemon Gym at the end of the park. There they stood, formulating some last minute plans before the battle.

“So, am I missing something that can help me?” Arti asks the other two.

“A Sitrus or Oran berry can help during the battle, you just need to have the Pokemon hold them.” Mary answers Arti’s question.

“Do you have any that I could borrow?” Arti responds with another question.

“I don’t have one, sorry.” Mary gives another answer.

“Well, that’s okay, I’m sure this battle can be won without it.” Arti decides to take on the trial again. “I will challenge Elesa for a second battle.”

“Remember what Zekrom has taught you, that crucial knowledge will make a difference.” Kyurem reminds Arti.

“You can do this!” Mary gives some encouragement.

“Thanks, I won’t let you down!” Arti promises.

Arti heads inside the yellow-roofed building, the beating in his chest being faster and stronger than before while climbing the steps and walking on the familiar platform where the previous battle took place. To the challenger’s surprise, there weren’t any Gym trainers standing between him and Elesa. The crowd cheered as they saw that familiar face that appeared earlier.

“That’s weird, maybe she isn’t giving out badges at this time?” Arti thinks.

“Welcome back, challenger! Wait, I mean Arti.” Elesa greets the hero in training.

“Hey Elesa, remember when I said that I was hoping to battle you again?” Arti asks.

“I remember that, so you want to make a thunder again?” the Gym Leader responds with another question.

“If that’s your way of saying that you will accept a rematch, then yes, I’m looking for a rematch.” Arti answers the question.

“Then let the lighting strike this battle!” Elesa says as she throws out the first Poke Ball, releasing the familiar Emolga.

“Mol!” the Sky Squirrel Pokemon is ready for battle.

“Here we go!” Arti exclaims as he throws the Poke Ball containing Krokorok.

“Krok!” the Desert Croc Pokemon is ready for its revenge.

“Okay Krokorok, I need you to use Swagger!” Arti commands Krokorok.

“Attack as fast as lighting with Quick Attack!” Elesa commands Emolga.

“Rok!” the Desert Croc Pokemon yells more quietly, but then it starts laughing at the Sky Squirrel Pokemon in a mocking manner, “Krokrokro!”

“Emollll!!!” Emolga becomes angry to the point of confusion, but also getting much stronger.

“Great, now I need you to use Sandstorm!” Arti tells the Desert Croc Pokemon.

“Let’s make some thunder by using Quick Attack!” Elesa commands the Sky Squirrel Pokemon.

Instead of attacking Krokorok, Emolga tried to attack its own shadow, dealing so much damage to itself.

“Mol!” the Sky Squirrel Pokemon’s anger doesn’t subside.

The Desert Croc Pokemon spins around, scattering grains of sand to the air around it and Emolga, eventually enveloping both in the now grainy air.

“I see you’re trying to ground the electricity. I’m not going to let you do that too easily! Elesa speaks to her challenger, then commands her Pokemon “Use Quick Attack again!”

Before it could have another attempt at striking Arti withdrew Krokorok.

“Okay Krokorok, it’s time for you to tag out and let your friend do some battling!” Arti tells the Desert Croc Pokemon.

“Okay Gallade, it’s your turn!” Arti sends out the Blade Pokemon.

“Gallade!” Gallade lets out its excitement to battle.

Emolga finally gets a chance to strike, but it sees its reflection and tries to tackle the reflection instead, causing a hit on the head.

“Emol!” the Sky Squirrel Pokemon puts both of its hands on its head.

The grains of sand starts getting in the eyes of both combatants.

“Gal…” the Blade Pokemon complains.

“Olga!” Emolga yells in frustration.

“I know getting sand in the eyes hurt, but this will help us in the end! Now use Slash!” Arti tells the Blade Pokemon to use the move.

“This is the time to use Volt Switch!” Elesa commands the Sky Squirrel Pokemon to perform a different move.

Gallade readies the blades on its arms and hits Emolga with them, dealing more damage to the weakened Sky Squirrel Pokemon. Unlike previously, Emolga envelopes itself in electricity and manages to strike the Blade Pokemon, dealing more damage without it being a critical hit. The Sky Squirrel Pokemon then retreats into its Poke Ball.

“Gallaaade!” Gallade yells from the unexpected attack.

“Magnetize the excitement, Zebstrika!” Elesa calls out to Zebstrika as she sends it into battle.

“Trika!” the Thunderbolt Pokemon brings its own excitement for battle.

Both combatants take damage from the sandstorm once more.

“Zebs…” Zebstrika feels some of the sand getting into its nostrils.

“Okay Zebstrika, use Flame Charge to become lighting fast!” Elesa tells the Thunderbolt Pokemon to use the move.

“Here Gallade, let me heal you before your opponent attacks.” Arti says as he takes out a Super Potion from his backpack and sprays it on the Blade Pokemon’s wounds.

“Lade!” Gallade thanks its trainer, only to get hit by the flaming Zebstrika afterwards. The area around the two clears up as the sandstorm subsides.

“Time for a Volt Switch, Zebstrika!” Elesa shouts to the Thunderbolt Pokemon

“Okay Gallade, time to let your friend to continue so you don’t face defeat!” Arti shouts to the Blade Pokemon.

Before Zebstrika could attack, Arti retrieves Gallade and sends out Krokorok into battle again.

“Krokorok!” the Desert Croc Pokemon renounces its revenge.

The Thunderbolt Pokemon started attacking, but its electricity did nothing to Krokorok once it came close to the Desert Croc Pokemon.

“Alright Krokorok, use Dig!” Arti shouts to his Pokemon.

“Quick Attack as quick as a lightning strike!” Elesa commands her Pokemon

Before Krokorok burrowed into the ground, Zebstrika hit the Desert Croc Pokemon with its left hoove.

“Magnetize the Flame Charge once that Krokorok burrows out!” Elesa tells the Thunderbolt Pokemon.

A mound underneath Zebstrika quickly grew as Krokorok burrowed out and slammed its upper jaw hard on the Thunderbolt Pokemon’s belly, resulting in a critical hit.
“Yes!” Arti becomes surprised by that technique Kokorok has just performed, but remains cautious. “We have gotten lucky, but let’s not rely on luck for the rest of the battle, tides can always change.”

“Trika!!” the Thunderbolt Pokemon cries out as it falls on its side.

“Krok!” the Desert Croc Pokemon celebrates, seemingly stronger from knocking out its opponent.

“You may have been insulated, but your passion hasn’t. Time for the storm to shift!” Elesa says to Zebstrika before withdrawing it into its Poke Ball and sending out Emolga, “Okay Emolga, time to electrocute this battle with a Quick Attack!”

“Olga.” the Sky Squirrel Pokemon isn’t angry anymore, but set on finishing its opponent.

“Krokorok, you may have knocked out an oppoponent, but we must keep going until the end of the battle! Now I need you to use Foul Play!” Arti tells Krokorok to use the move.

Before the Desert Croc Pokemon can act, Emolga hits the left side of its body.

“Korrook!!” Krokorok became tired of the Sky Squirrel Pokemon, immediately grabbing one of Emolga’s own arms with its claws and redirecting to its nose, the damage has been dealt by the Sky Squirrel Pokemon’s own boosted strength.

“Emolga?!” the surprised Emolga hits the ground before laying on its back, unable to battle further.

“You came back with a lot more pulse than before and even managed to defeat the two Pokemon I send out.” Elesa withdraws the Sky Squirrel Pokemon, “But there is one more Pokemon who will send a jolt stronger then ever before!” she tells her challenger.

“I think I know which Pokemon you will send out, I have seen you use it against other challengers.” Arti remembers some of the battles he had seen on TV.

“Let the battle become your lightning rod, Flaaffy!” the Gym Leader throws out the Poke Ball containing Flaaffy. “Use Take Down!”

“Fla-a-a-affy!” the Wool Pokemon lets out its battle cry before starting its charge.

“Alright Krokorok, we will give your friend a chance to knock out this Pokemon, so you will come in if things go wrong, okay?” Arti talks to Krokorok.

“Rok!” the Desert Croc Pokemon agrees to the idea.

Arti draws Krokorok back into its Poke Ball and then releases Gallade onto battle.

“Watch out!” Arti shouts to the Blade Pokemon, but was too late.

“Laade!” Gallade yells as it recieves the full force of the Take Down on its chest.

“Fla-a-a” Flaaffy mumbles as parts of its body starts to ache from the move.

“Alright Gallade, use Slash!” Arti commands the Blade Pokemon.

Gallade charges forward and strikes the Wool Pokemon on the right leg with the blades on its arms.

“Fla!” Flaaffy almost falls over.

Arti begins to notice Gallade having trouble moving after making contact. Somehow, its limbs are pausing their movements against the Blade Pokemon’s wishes.

“What is happening? This must be paralysis!” Arti thinks to himself before commanding Gallade to perform another move, “I need you to use Psychic!”

“Electrify the battle with Volt Switch!” Elesa commands Flaaffy.

Before Gallade had a chance to launch its attack, Flaaffy charged toward it with electricity before tackling it on the right arm.

“Gal!” Gallade yells from the move.

The Blade Pokemon tries to counter attack, but it couldn’t.

“Darn it! That paralysis is bad news, at this rate, I will be forced to bring out Krokorok to finish this off.” Arti thinks to himself once more commanding Gallade again. “Gallade, use Slash!”

“Let’s wire with Take Down!” Elesa tells the Wool Pokemon to perform the move.

Flaaffy charged toward the Blade Pokemon with its whole body, managing to hit Gallade on the head, thus causing a critical hit. This however, also hurt the Wool Pokemon a little bit.

“Oh no!” Arti becomes surprised by the sudden power done.

“Gal…” the Blade Pokemon couldn’t stand up, falling with its back to the ground.

“You have done your best and helped a lot, now let your friend finish this.” Arti tells Gallade of how much its efforts helped.

Arti withdraws Gallade into its Poke Ball, having no other choice but to send Krokorok into battle. He feels his body temperature rise, that nervous feeling starts flowing to every dead end it can find.

“This is the last chance I have at this trial, this has to count! As long as my Pokemon doesn’t see me panic, we can keep focus on this battle.” Arti thinks to himself as he grabs the Poke Ball containing Krokorok and throws it, releasing the Desert Croc Pokemon into battle.

“Krok!” Krokorok renounces its entrance.

“Okay Krokorok, your friend has not been able to defeat this Pokemon, so you will have to finish what was started. You can do this!” Arti gives encouragement to the Desert Croc Pokemon. “Start by using Swagger!”

“Make the thunder strike with Thunder Wave!” Elesa tells Flaaffy to use the move.

“Krokokokoko” Krokorok mocks the Wool Pokemon in a taunting manner.

“Fla-a-a-a?!” Flaaffy falls for the Desert Croc’s Pokemon trap and becomes so angry that it becomes confused. The Wool Pokemon launch a Thunder Wave at Krokorok, but it barely misses.

“We may have a chance after all.” Arti thinks to himself again. “Okay, now we need a Sandstorm!” he commands the Desert Croc Pokemon.

“Counter with Take Down.” Elesa tells Flaaffy to use the risky move.

Krokorok spins around, scattering grains of sand into the air, shrouding the battle with another Sandstorm. It however, didn’t see Flaaffy run straight into its jaws, hurting both Pokemon in the process.

The Wool Pokemon jumped away from the Desert Croc Pokemon’s jaws to prepare another attack, only for some of the sand to get into Flaaffy’s eyes afterward.

“Hey Krokorok, let me heal you!” Arti calls out to his Pokemon.

“Magnetize with another Thunder Wave!” the Gym Leader commands Flaaffy.

The Desert Croc Pokemon runs toward Arti as its trainer opens up his backpack and takes out a Potion. Arti sprays the Potion’s contents on Krokorok’s wounds, which encourages the Desert Croc Pokemon to keep battling.

“Korok!” Krokorok immediately runs back to battle, only for it to turn around and feel the Wool Pokemon’s electricity in its muscles.

“Darn, I should have bought some Paralyze Heals.” Arti’s thought comes up. “Okay, Krokorok, try to use Dig!” he says the command out loud.

“Make another Take Down stormy!” Elesa commands Flaaffy.

The Wool Pokemon charges ahead and falls on the Desert Croc Pokemon’s spikes, hurting it with a critical hit. The spikes left a few marks on Flaaffy.

Despite the force on its back hurting so much, its muscles locking up, and now being severely weakened, Krokorok summoned up its last remaining bit of strength to burrow into the ground.

Everyone is kept in suspense, whether the paralysis will kick in or the move will be performed successfully is to be seen.

“Come on… Come on.” Arti feels like his heart can jump out of his chest at any second.

Murmuring amongst the crowd can be heard, the grainy air is further filled with tension. The battle grows quiet excepts with the howling echoes.

Unexpectedly, a mound of dirt grows behind the Wool Pokemon, not knowing of the Desert Croc Pokemon launching at it like a cannonball.

“Fla-a-a!” Flaaffy feels its back being hit with great force.

“Korok!” Korkorok lands on its feet, grinning with satisfaction.

The Wool Pokemon doesn’t get up anymore, only having the energy to look around itself.

The sandstorm subsides as the room is filled with cheering once again.

“We did it!” Arti celebrates. “I knew you could do it!”

“Kro!” the Desert Croc Pokemon continues grinning after hearing the praise.

“You had a much stronger charge than last time.” Elesa explains to Arti as Flaaffy is withdrawn back into its Poke Ball. “Well, I don’t have any badge to give to you, I hope this didn’t ground your power.”

“That’s okay, I’m just glad we had this battle.” Arti responds as he draws Krokorok back into its Poke Ball, not noticing the Dark Stone floating out of the open backpack and absorbing a little bit of energy.

“You have the Dark Stone?!” Elesa asks, surprised.

Arti turns around to see what Elesa was surprised about.

“Oops, I didn’t want the public to see that I had it.” Arti puts his hand on the back of his neck. “Can you keep this a secret for now and can you tell your audience to do the same? I don’t want Tectonic Inc. to steal it, I’m on a quest to fight back against them.”

“Since you have proven your strength and determination, I will happily keep it a secret for you.” Elesa agrees.

“I have to get going, the disasters aren’t going to prevent themselves after all.” Arti waves to the Gym Leader.

“Goodbye!” Elesa waves to her challenger.

Arti leaves once he closes his backpack after the Dark Stone lands back inside.

Outside the Gym, the sky darkened, with the sky and the moon being visible. Kyurem and Mary waited outside the gym.

“So, do you think he managed to win the battle?” Mary asks the Boundary Pokemon.

“I can sense a stronger presence from the Dark Stone, this only happens for those who have completed the trial.” Kyurem answers.

Arti emerges out of the entrance, a big smile marked on his face.

“So, how did it go?” Mary asks Arti.

“You should have seen how close the battle was, it was a very tough battle, but we managed to win in the end!” Arti can’t hold his excitement in.

“You have completed the first trial and have unlocked part of the Dark Stone’s power.” the Boundary Pokemon tells its trainer.

“You know since we are all tired, how about we take a break from this quest for the rest of the night?” Mary suggests.

“Yeah, a break for the rest of the night sounds good right now.” Arti agrees.

“I need some time to communicate with the Dark Stone so I can direct you to the next trial tomorrow.” Kyurem says.

“Okay, you can do that. I’m just doing a quick trip to the Pokemon Center so the Pokemon can be healed.” Arti says as he draws the Boundary Pokemon back into its Poke Ball.

“I want to talk to you about some discoveries I have made when I asked Kyurem some questions while you were inside.” Mary wants to come with Arti.

On their way to the Pokemon Center, Mary tells Arti about many discoveries that she had made while he was battling inside the Pokemon Gym.

“So, is it true that Poke Balls used to be made out of geodes?” Arti asks about the current topic.

“That’s true, according to what Kyurem told me, people figured out that the crystals inside the geode had a similar effect on Pokemon the way that the modern Poke Balls do.” Mary confirms.

The two arrive at the Pokemon Center, Arti brings out the Poke Balls containing Krokorok and Gallade and hands them to the nurse on the counter. While the Pokemon are being healed, he heads over to the center’s store and buys some Paralyze Heals, some Hyper Potions, and Ultra Balls, returning to get the Poke Balls back and placing them in his pockets.

“Did Kyurem tell you about any of the previous heroes?” Arti asks Mary as the two head out.

“Well, there was one I was told about. That hero was about to reach an important part of his journey, only to be distracted by a room full of treasure.” Mary responds with a story.

“So, what happened?” Arti asks another question as the two make their way to the theme park again.

“I don’t know, Kyurem was vague regarding this detail. The specific event that happened after that remains unclear. I hope that I can get a better understanding of what happened after the distraction.” Mary explains as the two enter the theme park once more.

The two reach the ferris wheel as the conversation kept going. Heading inside the ride, they talk about some challenges in the future.

“I’m going to be honest, considering the fact that I couldn’t defeat Elesa for the first time worries me about future trials that will only give me one chance.” Arti admits as the ride begins spinning.

“Seeing how you handled the battle against Tectonic Inc. so far, I know you can figure out a way. If I can be honest for this one, you haven’t prepared for your first time through.” Mary responds as the ride keeps spinning.

“Yeah, I think that’s true too. Now I see that I have to start preparing early if I would ever have a chance to face tougher opponents.” Arti agrees, “But as seen from the second battle I had against Elesa, unexpected things can happen that may as well turn the tables. It also doesn’t help that Kyurem didn’t tell me anything about the second Trial of Ideals.”

“I think it’s to avoid repeating the same mistake, I’m sure Kyurem will tell you at the right time.” Mary comforts.

“You’re right, maybe I’m just worrying too much.” Arti accepts.

The adventuring couple catches a glimpse of the Driftveil Drawbridge raising its two halves as they look forward to getting to their next destination tomorrow.

 

[System Error]

- Arti going shonen hero, almost
- Make a thunder? Odd saying. There's a lot of it in this chapter.
- Emolga speaks to her challenger? Is it...OH MY GOD IS IT A TALKING POKEMON
- This is the weirdest interpretation of hurting self in confusion I've read
- Huh, item use.
- Lots of weird awkward wording in this chapter. Like magnetize the Flame Charge? What is she even saying?
- Pppoponent? Mr. Popo. Or something. Too delirious to be witty about that typo.
- She will send out the most dreaded Pokemon of all. The one the epic music most often plays against when you fight her. Arti will face...EMOLGA #2
- Oh well Flaaffy is about also as anticlimactic as it gets. At least there isn't the hilarious over the top music for what is obviously not her ace.
- Arti is sure telling his Pokemon he'll let their friends finish a lot in this fight
- So wait is he being put in a two on three? How is that fair?
- Why did Elesa even order a Thunder Wave against a Ground type Pokemon? And why does it work when it should be ineffective?
- All this item spam from the trainer and the Gym Leader doesn't.
- Wait what she ran out of badges. How does that even happen, like seriously what?
- Oh hey Poke Ball lore
- A hero distracted by a room full of treasure and then it's vague what happened after? Charles Barkley was one of the previous heroes?

A Gym Battle chapter, not much to say about it except what the hell seriously a challenger's two against three? It was an all right battle. Technical wise this one could've definitely used an editing pass, that said. But, we'll see what's next.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 17: The Driftveil Complications​

The crisp morning air made its presence known as a flock of Wingul accompanied the many ships bobbing to the sea. The ships themselves carried large containers, ready to be brought to their destinations. While the travel to the sea flowed normally, land travel was stopped by the bridge staying raised, causing Arti and Mary’s travel to Driftveil City coming to a halt due to the red and silver bridge.

“When will this bridge lower itself? We have been waiting in Route 5 for like an hour!” Arti impatiently looks at the map he holds.

“Maybe they had too much to trade with other regions?” Mary curiously asks.

“Could be either this or-” Arti gets cut off by the noise of the Driftveil Drawbridge lowering its halves.

As soon as the drawbridge finished connecting its halves, Arti sprinted across like a Manectric chasing after its prey.

“Wait!” Mary yelled to Arti, trying to catch up with him. She thinks to herself “I didn’t know he can be that quick when he really wants to get to the next destination!”

After the couple is caught up with one another, they arrive at Driftveil City located at the end of the drawbridge, at the part of the grassy part of the city sporting a statue at the middle. There is a stone bridge connecting the piece of land to the rest of the city.

“Ready to head to the mainland?” Arti eagerly asks.

“I’m ready even though I had to catch up with you a moment ago.” Mary answers, breathing a little heavily. “How are you able to be so quick?”

“I was used to running away from a lot of encounters with Bruin back at Lacunosa Town, I did that a lot when I was younger.” Arti explains as he and Mary cross the stone bridge. “I guess that helped me run really quick when I needed to escape, except when I was trying to run away from Kyurem that one time off course.”

At the end of the bridge sat a road made of square tiles that lead to a building with multiple floors right across, closest to the bridge sit two buildings while two more are present behind them. Even further up sits three more buildings, the leftmost one of which is a Pokemon Center. The one in the middle is identical to the buildings close to the bridge while the rightmost one is another building with multiple floors, all of the above buildings have bluish-green paned windows and yellow streaks as part of the walls. At the left of the stone, the bridge sits an entrance to an unknown place, with its own road marked for vehicle travel. Across the four buildings is a market that has its own catalog of items for sale. The road with the square tiles also leads to a decorated gate with a dark blue roof leading to the Pokemon World Tournament.

“So, what do you want to do first, Mary?” Arti talks to his girlfriend.

“I’m curious to see what is in the market, there is something that I might like.” Mary responds to her boyfriend.

“Sounds like a great plan! Maybe we can get something for our Pokemon.” Arti agrees.

The couple went into the market, they saw three shops, one had many different incenses for sale, giving that stand a unique smell from the ones displayed out of their packaging. Another had bitter medicines, the type that Pokemon are known to dislike because the medicines are too bitter even for the palate of Pokemon that love the taste when it comes from berries. The final shop had Moomoo Milk for sale, with the option to buy just one or a set of 12 bottles containing the nutritious white drink.

Mary took an interest in the incenses displayed and went to take a look while Arti went to see if he could get some Moomoo Milk for his Pokemon.

“Hello, welcome to my incense shop.” a hunched woman with hair as long as the vines of a Tangrowth, a long beady necklace, and shaggy clothes welcomes Mary. “So, which incense are you interested in?”

“Hmm, I like that pretty pink, purple, and violet one.” Mary picks up a boxed one she described.

“You have an eye for the Odd Incense I see.” the woman replies, “This is quite popular with trainers who exclusively own Psychic-type Pokemon but don’t have enough Twisted Spoons.”

Mary pays the shaggy-clothed woman the number of Poke Dollars marked on the Odd Incense as she heads out of the market.

Meanwhile, Arti just paid the amount of PokeDollars for 12 bottles of Moomoo Milk to the farmer.

After Arti and Mary rejoined outside, they decided to see a little bit more of the city, which they were about to, but the ground started to vibrate, then a loud rumble is heard.

Various goods on the market can be seen falling to the ground like a rockslide, with many leaves falling from the trees around.

“Whoa!” Arti yells in a surprised manner.

“What was that?!” Mary, understandably shocked asks.

“I think we should ask one of our Pokemon what exactly happened, then we can investigate from there.” Arti suggests.

“Do you think they will know?” Mary questions.

“We need to find out either way.” Arti persists. “Better to start somewhere.”

Mary threw both of her Poke Balls out, now Golurk and Kirlia standing side by side, Arti goes next and throws all three of his Poke Balls, with Kyurem, Gallade, and Korkorok standing close to the group.

“Okay, everyone, we need your help.” Arti tells all of the Pokemon.

“Kir?” Kirlia asks.

“What is that you need our assistance?” Kyurem asks a follow-up question.

“We just experienced a tremor right here.” Mary responds. “It’s possible that one Tectonic Inc’s machines could be close to here or worse yet, underground.”

“Lurk gol...” Golurk sounds worried.

“Lade!” Gallade tries to cheer up the Automaton Pokemon, sounding hopeful.

“I think that we could try to pinpoint the source of that tremor, knowing the source of it can do a lot to help.” Arti explains, then commands. “Gallade, try to use your psychic powers to locate the source.”

“Gal!” the Blade Pokemon kneels down on one leg and places its hand on the ground while closing its eyes.

“Kirlia, you should do the same.” Mary persuades the Emotion Pokemon.

“Lia!” Kirlia sits and places both of its hands on the ground before closing its eyes.

“Krokorok, go scout around to see if there’s anything that can help. But remember, no biting everything and everyone you see, ok?” Arti commands the Desert Croc Pokemon.

“Krok!” Krokorok leaves to scout through the city.

“Golurk, can you fly and see anything out of the ordinary?” Mary asks Golurk.

“Lurk.” the Automaton Pokemon retract its legs and hovers to the sky.

“If we find any trace of Tectonic Inc. here, then this won’t be the only tremor to happen at Driftveil.” Arti states his worry.

Before long, Krokorok and Golurk return with some findings.

“Kroko!” the Desert Croc Pokemon tells the news.

“Gol!” the Automaton Pokemon does the same.

“What are they saying?” Mary asks the Boundary Pokemon.

“They said that there are some police officers alongside a man with brown clothing and a white hat standing outside the Driftveil Gym.” Kyurem translates what the other Pokemon said.

After the news have been clarified, Kirlia and Gallade quickly opened their eyes, also washed with worry.

“Kirlia and Gallade, can you tell us what you discovered?” Arti asked the two Psychic-type Pokemon.

“Kirl...” the Emotion Pokemon’s voice was trembling.

“Galla!” the Blade Pokemon said urgently.

“They found out that one of the machines belonging to Tectonic Inc. is located underground.” the Boundary Pokemon clarified.

The ground shook once more, this time with much greater force.

“Again?! If this is happening on the same day, then we need to speed up our investigation!” Arti exclaims to the group.

“Then we should go to the Driftveil Gym, the tremor could be causing from there.” Mary points the group to the next step.

After Arti and Mary retrieve their Pokemon, they walk toward some stairs beside the Pokemon Center leading down to a more concrete road. Directly at the front of said stairs is a longer flight of stairs leading to a higher body of land with a building eastward where former Team Plasma members used to go to give Pokemon back to the people they have stolen from. At the west is a dirt ramp leading to a tunnel that can lead to the Castelia Sewers and Relic Castle. Route 6 is located at the west end of the concrete road, while at the right sits the Driftveil Gym, currently closed with police officers and their Stoutland trying to find out who has broken into the gym last night. Arti and Mary approach a man who was described by Korkorok and Golurk.

“Hello sir, can we go inside?” Arti speaks to the man in front of him.

The man turns around, his face has the mark of stress.

“Why in tarnation would ya want to go in there? These Tectonic Inc. folks came bargin’ into my gym, they don’t have respect for anyone.” the man responds. “My employees were just doin’ their jobs when parts of the tunnel started fallin’, the sight there is not purty.”

“We can help you with your problem.” Mary adds in.

“Sorry, but I can’t just let ya’ll go in there, not unless you can rescue my employees.” the man replies.

“I’m on a quest to stop Tectonic Inc. from causing destruction. You can count on us to save them!” Arti hopes to be allowed inside the gym.

“Where are my manners? My name is Clay, the Driftveil Gym leader, and a businessman. So ya’ll say that you can help me? I will let ya inside with a warnin’, debris might fall on ya at any second. I will also give ya’ll a little extra favor, if you can rescue everyone in there, I might help you with somethin’, anythin’ ya might come across.” the man introduces himself while giving permission.

“Thank you Clay! We will make sure to save everyone inside and stop the source of the problem!” Arti thanks the Gym Leader.

“I would be lyin’ if I said I didn’t see ya on the news. I heard there’s a rumor that you have a legendary Pokemon helping your cause.” Clay adds, “I’ll tell these folks here to let ya pass.”

One of the police officers, a short man in a blue uniform with bushy eyebrows and mustache overheard the conversation and came to talk to Clay.

“I can’t let these two go inside. They will be in danger and might temper with our rescue operation.” the police officer states.

“But we have to go in there, there is something causing these tremors that must be shut down!” Arti quickly replies.

“And how did you find out there was something like that? According to my reports, you never went down there.” the police officer checks his notepad.

“Then what really happened?” Mary asks a follow-up question.

“Well, according to what I was told, the same people who barged into this gym all have left. No criminal would leave something obviously noticeable behind, either way, what has caused this kind of tremor would’ve been too large and noticeable for it to be hidden.” the police officer answers with a doubt.

Before the conversation could go on, the ground shakes with a force equal to that of a Tyranitar landing from a big jump.

“Having three tremors in one day in the same place is not natural, this is no time to argue! We need to get inside right now!” Arti exclaims as he rushes past the police officer and into the Driftveil Gym, with Mary quickly following him.

“Hey, get out of there, this gym is not safe!” the police officer yells but is too late to convince Arti and Mary from getting out.

“Let’em be heroes.” Clay tells everyone doing the investigations, “They might have a better chance at gettin’ everyone out in time. I’d hate to be the bearer of bad news to the families of my employees, so anythin’ to do to save their lives is mor’ important.”

The inside of the Driftveil City Gym is adorned with paintings on its walls, gold-framed windows, and two golden statues, each with the Unova Pokemon League logo sitting on top.

There is a table to the right with green chairs, the two smaller chairs face a bigger chair across the table, which is gold and has a bouquet of flowers for decoration. On the left is a golden counter another bouquet of flowers.

At the corners where the north wall meets the east and west walls, each sits a potted plant. The walls have a white and light gray striped pattern with a wood and gold railing below said pattern. There is a rug that leads from the door to the central steel platform that acts as an elevator. The platform itself has a mounted touch screen, the shell of the screen’s device is blue much like the clothes worn by the woman behind the counter, she is seen keeping track of how many workers are at the lower levels.

“Excuse me, I know you have just arrived, but you shouldn’t be here.” the woman behind the counter warns.

“We know about the dangers, which is why we came here to save those who might be trapped underground. We don’t have time for discussion, can you tell us how many people are trapped down there?” Arti intends to make this conversation quick.

“There are 8 workers down there, I’m worried that none have come up here, especially since their Pokemon are unable to help because they were defeated by Tectonic Inc. The gym guide gave me access to this data before leaving to report this to Clay.” the woman anxiously looks at her monitor.

“Well, don’t worry, we can help them get out of there in time. We have some Pokemon that can allow us to rescue them before it’s too late!” Mary tells the woman.

“Well, I don’t know if I can trust a pair of tee-” the woman starts speaking before being interrupted by Arti and Mary running to the middle of the room and touching the screen. “I truly advise against going down there at this time.”

“Well, we can’t just stand around while there are lives in danger.” Mary replies before the platform descends.

As the platform descends, Arti begins to have some concerns welling up in his mind. Is he the only person in Unova with Pokemon powerful enough to stop Tectonic Inc.? Are Tectonic Inc.’s Pokemon becoming artificially powerful to remain uncontested? This thought disturbs him, as he heard of a similar incident with Shadow Pokemon happening in Orre.

The platform halts at its lowest, what used to be a computer upstairs is now broken, with its screen cracked and keypad barely visible under the rubble, the light fixture that used to be intact now hangs by the wire connected to it, the tube of glass flickers often, but also randomly.

The adventuring couple climbed the stairs only for their eyes to meet the aforementioned sight.

“Well, doesn’t this look like something out of a horror movie?” Mary points out.

“Scary or not, we must have courage right now, we can’t leave until we saved everyone.” Arti responds.

The duo hurries down the stairs to their left and then turn to their right to see a flickering green light showing a doorway to a downward slope connected to a platform similar to the one that took them underground.

What used to be many other platforms now is a pile of messily fallen rocks that block the way of the many conveyor belts that normally connect each platform. Much of the lighting is off due to the tremor tugging the wires apart. Within the darkness, 8 moving sources of light beam close to the ground. Yelling can be heard throughout the cave.

“Where are you?!” one male voice yells out.

“These rocks are blocking our escape route!” another male voice is heard.

Arti and Mary send out their Pokemon to help save these people.

“Okay everyone, it’s time to be heroes!” Arti says. “Kyurem, you will freeze the ceiling and walls of the cave while Gallade will help with clearing the way for the workers to get out. Krookodile, you will use Dig to make an alternate way for these people to get out in time if the pile of rocks takes too much time.”

“Kirlia and Golurk, you two will help Gallade clear the way.” Mary tells her Pokemon.

All of the Pokemon nod, but Kyurem decided to make one detail clear.

“Unfortunately, my current powers aren’t enough to keep the ceiling frozen permanently.” the Boundary Pokemon adds.

“That’s okay, we at least need to rescue everyone.” Arti responds, “If we can’t get to the tremor-causing machine in time, the debris might be what destroys it, but I think deactivating it before the cave collapses would be a better idea. Now let’s get a move on!” The group starts making their way to the closest moving light.

Kyurem begins freezing the ceiling of the cave, hoping it will buy the rest of the group enough time to do what they planned. Krookodile digs to find ways to save the work crew in time.

“Okay Gallade, start using Psycho Cut on the rocks near all of these light sources!” Arti tells the Blade Pokemon

“Gal!” Gallade starts using its move on the rocks.

“Time for you to help Gallade clear the way!” Mary commands her Pokemon.

Kirlia uses its psychic powers to help move larger rocks out of the Blade Pokemon’s way while Golurk helps by pushing piles of rock away from the path that Gallade is forging.

The combined effort lead to the rescue of the closest employee.

“Let me help you up.” Arti tells the worker before helping him get up.

“Thank you for this rescue. My co-workers are still trapped here somewhere, but our Pokemon are safe in their Poke Balls.” the worker gives crucial information.

“This will certainly help us rescue everyone, now go wait at the elevator.” Arti replies as he resumes following Gallade and the rest to the closest group of four moving lights.

With the employee retreating to the elevator, less debris is falling thanks to Kyurem’s effort. But Arti and Mary knew they need to pick up the pace if they were going to rescue everyone and reach the tremor maker in time.

Running through the pebble-filled cave, Gallade spots 4 more employees trapped between some rocks. Taking Arti’s command to heart, it slashes the biggest rock in half with Psycho Cut.

“Thanks for the help!” one of the workers says to the Blade Pokemon.

“Good job Gallade!” Arti sends a praise to Gallade.

Four more employees manage to escape. With two moving sources of light close by, Arti directs Gallade toward them, Mary notices the size of those rocks are too big to be split open by a single Psycho Cut.

“Kirlia and Golurk, move those rocks!” Mary commands her Pokemon.

“Kir!” Emotion Pokemon exclaims as it does its best to levitate the rocks out of the way.

“Lurk!” The Automaton Pokemon grabs hold of the same rocks to help lift them out of the way.

“I thought we were goners.” one of the employees said.

“I’m doing what I can to help you, now hurry to the elevator!” Arti tells the workers.

Only one more employee left to save, but the ice holding the ceiling in tact starts to crack, more small debris start falling, first in small pebbles.

“My ice is starting to break away, I suggest we hurry.” Kyurem tells the group.

“Then we’ll speed up this rescue mission!” Arti responds.

The group eventually makes its way to the final worker who needs to be rescued thanks to the combined efforts of Pokemon.

“Thank you for rescuing me.” the worker tells the group after he sees the way cleared for him.

“Get to the elevator, the others are already there waiting for you.” Mary tells the man.

As if on cue, he starts sprinting to the elevator.

“We’ll wait for you!” the man yells to the group so they can hear him.

Meanwhile, some of the ice actually break and a few large pieces of rock fall.

“This is our final warning, we will not have time to escape this if we destroy what is causing this place to collapse.” the Boundary Pokemon points out.

“Then create some ice spikes on the ceiling above the tremor maker… wherever it is.” Arti commands Kyurem.

But before beginning the search, Kyurem actually creates ice spikes on the entire ceiling of the cave.

“That should be more than enough, now let’s get out of here!” Mary tells the group.

Arti and Mary return their Pokemon into their Poke Balls and sprint to the elevator where the workers wait for them. Not long behind is the collapsing cave rocks enclosing from above, threatening to crush them if taken too long to escape. They enter the same doorway before, barely escaping the debris.

“That was too close, I think we can take a breather here.” Mary suggests, breathing a little heavily.

“We’ll take a breather when we get out of here, we may have escaped the collapse of the cave, but I don’t think we’re safe yet.” Arti rejects the suggestion.

“You’re right, we need to get out of here first.” Mary agrees.

The two hurry up the stairs and turn to their left, back to the ruined computer room, the lights now flicker even more as the wires are being slowly tugged apart. They don’t stop, instead, they turn their attention to the work crew that has been rescued, waiting for their arrival. Hurrying down the smaller flight of stairs, Arti and Mary finally make it to the elevator platform, one of the crew members touches the screen to go up. The elevator takes them back up to the lobby.

The tremors suddenly stop, giving Arti some relief.

“Now we can take a breather.” Arti goes back to Mary’s suggestion.

The elevator ascends back to the entrance, the woman behind the counter sees that everyone has made it back.

“You’re back! I was worried about you down there.” the woman tells the group.

“It’s thanks to these two and their Pokemon that we managed to avoid being crushed.” one of the workers say.

“Well, thank you for rescuing them, we are in your debt.” the woman tells Arti and Mary.

The workers agreed as everyone leaves the building. Clay is relieved to see everyone alive.

“Y’all managed to save all of my employees after all.” Clay tells Arti and Mary.

“It was hard but we did it because it was the right thing to do.” Arti replies.

“While we could stay, we should really get going to Chargestone Cave. Arti has important hero stuff to do there.” Mary explains.

“A recent rockslide blocked the entrance to it, but if y’all want, I can unblock it for you.” Clay offers.

“Thank you, we would like that very much.” Arti accepts the offer.

With the next destination set for Chargestone Cave, Arti wonders if it’s going to be the place for the next Trial of Ideals he will have to undertake and what he needs to do if it indeed is the place. One thing is for certain however, he is more confident in his abilities to be the hero that will fight Techtonic Inc. despite the odds being against him.

 

[System Error]

- Kid's got some legs on him.
- Nice mentioning of bitter medicine being that bitter in terms of gameplay, or something
- And this is Clay, the guy who personally stepped up to whip Plasma. What's these Tectites got him all russled for?
- Arti acting all hero now
- Shoutouts to Orre. And see, times like this are when you go after the trainers. How'd the villains even escape? Escape Rope?
- Not much to say on the rescue scene.
- Important hero things to do. Mary, you adorable dork.

Good to see this back, and sorry for brevity, hard to review in my current state but didn't want to wait longer.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 18: Oh Deerling​

The state of Driftveil City isn’t the same after the tremors that shook its ground, but the worst was thankfully avoided. Arti and Mary are sitting down at the table inside the Pokemon Center after the escape from the boulders that now fill the bottom levels of the Driftveil Gym.

“That was nerve-wracking, I hope something like that never happens again!” Arti says, trying to gather his thoughts.

“I’m worried about what is Tectonic Inc’s real end goal, endangering so many lives like that just for energy simply doesn’t make sense to me.” Mary responds with worry.

“I also have a feeling that they are artificially powering up their Pokemon. That’s another thing that worries me along with what you told me.” Arti replies, also worried. “Training a common Pokemon to be that powerful takes a lot of time, something I don’t think Tectonic Inc. would have.”

“We should get going, we don’t know where they might build another tremor maker.” Mary reminds Arti.

“You’re right, so let’s start making our way to Chargestone Cave!” Arti gets up from the chair and walks out of the Pokemon Center, with Mary following him.

A huge crack on the pavement announces itself, looking as though a Steelix was dropped from a 14-story building. The police put warning tapes around the area of the crack, with many Arcanine helping to prevent anyone from stepping on it.

“Wow, that was too close.” Arti reacts to the crack in the pavement as he carefully makes his way to Route 6 at the northwest of Driftveil City.

“Let’s hope Chargestone Cave didn’t collapse from this.” Mary adds as she follows Arti carefully.

The two managed to make their way behind the Pokemon Center, then go left to Route 6, with Clay waiting for them.

“Thank ya for preventing the worst to happen. Ya’ll could’ve done better, but at least the city is still intact.” Clay tells Arti and Mary.

“We tried the best we could. So to prevent something like that from happening anywhere else, we would like some help in unblocking the entrance to Chargestone Cave.” Arti replies with a request.

“I will go on ahead, so don’t keep me waitin’.” Clay responds before he goes into Route 6.

Arti and Mary make their way to Route 6, a bridge enters their sights, followed by many patches of grass only interrupted by a few trees close to the long river under the bridge. Not far off is a huge forest of trees that cover the entire southwestern part of the route.

The two cross the bridge in front of them as they start their way to Chargestone Cave. Hoping they don’t run into wild Pokemon, they go north. They however, ran into a wild Tranquill.

“Tranquill!” cried the Wild Pidgeon Pokemon.

“Let me handle this, you can go ahead!” Mary tells Arti to keep going.

“Are you sure?” Arti asks.

“Yes, we don’t want to keep Clay waiting.” Mary affirms her decision as she sends out Kirlia.

“You’re right! Come meet me when you win this battle.” Arti agrees as he continues his way, only to be blocked by some trees.

Thankfully, there’s another bridge arching over the river, leading to another group of tall grass that gently swing back and forth with the wind, with even more trees, the only way to go is north to the third and final bridge.

Arti starts walking over the second bridge, hearing the wood creaking under his feet combined with the flow of water. Just as he finishes crossing the bridge, he hears a cry of distress.

“Deerliiiing!” the cry sounds from the north.

“Is that a Pokemon in trouble?!” Arti reacts to the sound.

“Deerliiiing!” the cry sounded again.

“Is there a Pokemon in trouble? I have to help it!” he thinks.

Not long after, he went in the direction of the sound, hoping to help the Pokemon in time.

“Don’t worry, I’m coming!” Arti yells out as he hurries over the final bridge going over the same part of the river, crossing it with no second thought.

What he saw was horrifying, a Deerling surrounded by many Karrablast who are ready to attack the Season Pokemon. Its Sawsbuck parents look too tired as they cannot do anything but watch, presumably after they tried to save their child from becoming the Clamping Pokemon’s prey. The Deerling’s face has the mark of horror as it knows it can’t fight this many Karrablast.

“Hey! Leave that Deerling alone!” Arti yells to the Clamping Pokemon.

The huge group of Karrablast notices him and all start laughing, apparently making fun of humans who think they can just order wild Pokemon, especially when there’s more than 10 of said Pokemon.

“I’m warning you, back away from that Deerling right now.” Arti gives a second warning.

The Clamping Pokemon make a mocking version of being scared, clearly not taking Arti’s warning seriously.

“Fine, I didn’t want to do this, but you gave me no choice!” Arti says as he picks up the Poke Ball containing Krookodile and opening it.

Light from the Poke Ball spills to the ground as it forms the shape of the Desert Croc Pokemon.

“Krookodile!” Krookodile yells, ready for battle.

“Use Dig on these Karrablast!” Arti orders the Desert Croc Pokemon.

Krookodile disappears into the ground, and a few seconds later, mounds start to rise under several Karrablast, launching a few of them in the process.

“Karra ra blast!” one of the Clamping Pokemon demanded the others of its group to swarm the Desert Croc Pokemon once it sprung out of the ground.

Meanwhile, the Deerling flees to its parents for protection.

Krookodile is eventually caught by the swarm of Karrablast, their numbers being smaller, but still big enough to overpower the Desert Croc Pokemon.

“Kroo…” Krookodile asks Arti for help.

“Okay, Gallade, it’s your turn to battle!” Arti says as he throws the Poke Ball containing the Blade Pokemon.

“Gallade!” Gallade yells out.

“Use Psycho Cut on the Karrablast!” Arti orders the Blade Pokemon.

Gallade’s arms glow pink as the Blade Pokemon runs toward the Karrablast swarm and starts striking many of the Clamping Pokemon. This gives Krookodile time to escape and counterattack the swarm in defense, which it did until…

Some of the Karrablast finally begin to flee, but the swarm is still too much as both the Desert Croc Pokemon and the Blade Pokemon are eventually overrun.

“That’s it!” Arti yells in frustration at the Clamping Pokemon’s stubbornness, throwing out the Poke Ball containing Kyurem.

“Hahraaanh!” the Boundary Pokemon makes its presence known.

Just from Kyurem’s appearance, the Karrablast swarm finally gets the message to leave and starts fleeing, scared of the Boundary Pokemon.

“What just happened?” Kyurem asked in confusion.

“Oh, it was just a group of Karrablast who didn’t leave the Deerling alone. They were too stubborn to take my warning seriously.” Arti explains to the Boundary Pokemon.

Kyurem looks at the Sawsbuck family, then back at Arti.

“You have done well. The Dark Stone has made the right decision to pick you as its potential hero.” the Boundary Pokemon tells Arti.

“Then let's keep making our way to Chargestone Cave.” Arti urges his Pokemon to keep going, drawing Gallade, Krookodile, and Kyurem into their Poke Balls.

Arti continues his way through Route 6, passing by a laboratory and a few scientists studying how Deerling’s appearance depends on the season. There are other Deerling eating some berries, all of them sporting green fur due to the season being summer. The laboratory itself is blue all over, with some gray concrete and many windows breaking up the monotony of the otherwise exclusively blue building.

“Hopefully, I didn’t keep Clay waiting for me.” Arti thinks as he crosses the bridge in front of him.

After crossing the bridge, Arti tries his best not to encounter any hostile wild Pokemon, knowing that would just waste more time. After all, he knows Clay won’t be waiting forever. He decides to use a Repel in hopes that he isn’t too late. Luckily for him, there are no trainers who will battle him as soon as they notice him. Making his way over to the final bridge of the route, he notices a house with an orange roof, but he ignores it to keep going.

“Almost there, then it will be time to find out if Chargestone Cave really is where the second Trials of Ideals take place.” Arti thinks to himself again.

Making his way through the final patches of grass, he makes it to the entrance of Chargestone Cave. The entrance is blocked, with a few boulders on top of each other making the entrance look like a rough archway as a sculpture rather than an entrance.

“Strange, where is he?” Arti thinks. “Am I too late?”

Then from the right, he sees Tectonic Inc. employees running for their lives.

“Uhh, what?” the question comes into Arti’s mind.

Just then a familiar voice is heard.

“Don’t trespass into my business again, or ya’ll will pay!” says the voice that belongs to Clay, obviously with an aggressive tone, followed by more Tectonic Inc. employees fleeing.

Before long, Clay appears from behind the rocky wall that separates a small area from the rest of the route.

“What happened?” Arti asks in confusion.

“Some Tectonic Inc. squirts thought they could ambush me with their Pokemon.” Clay answers, then replies with another question, “Say, where’s yer partner?”

“Mary insisted that I should keep going while she handled battling wild Pokemon. I hope she makes it here.” Arti responds.

“I can’t be waitin’ all day, I have business to attend to.” Clay says, then sends out his Excadrill, “Excadrill, put that Metal Claw of yers to work!”

“Exca!” the Subterrene Pokemon accepts the command as it uses its claws to break the boulders blocking the entrance to Chargestone Cave.

“There ya go, now somethin’ needs my attention back at Driftveil City.” Clay tells Arti, then returns Excadrill back into its Poke Ball before leaving to return to Driftveil City.

Arti is now left waiting, but not for long as Mary catches up to him.

“Sorry about that, some battles against wild Pokemon took a long time.” Mary says as she arrives.

“It’s fine, the way into Chargestone Cave is open now, so we can get going.” Arti responds, “There are wild Pokemon in there as well, so I’ll also try to he-”

One of the Poke Balls in Arti’s pocket cuts him off as it moves, he takes it out and opens it, Kyurem now stands beside the two trainers.

“This is where you go through the second Trial of Ideals.” the Boundary Pokemon explains.

“Looks like my prediction was right, so what do I need to do?” Arti asks.

“You have to give the Dark Stone electricity, it requires that electricity must also run through your body as well.” Kyurem finishes explaining.

“Uhh, this sounds dangerous.” Arti replies, a little bit of hesitation can be heard in his voice.

“Do not worry, humans who went inside this cave all survived the electricity.” the Boundary Pokemon reassures Arti.

“I’ll help you keep the wild Pokemon away as well!” Mary decides to do her part to help, taking notes of what Kyurem said to Arti.

“I’ll do my best to keep them away too.” Arti also decides as he takes the Dark Stone from his backpack to hold, “Looks like it will be your turn to shine.” he says to the Dark Stone.

With the inside of the cave already being lit with cyan-colored sparks, visibility won’t be an issue for the group. Arti steps inside with the Dark Stone in hand, ready to begin the second Trial of Ideals.

 

[System Error]

Okay, late, but I see this was updated sometime when I wasn't feeling stuff so let's try this.

- Splitting up? That seems all kinds of bad ideas.
- These beetles are so dumb. What are they hoping to accomplish? There's not enough there for all of them.
- Dig? I guess he forgot basic type charts.
- But just pull out the big dragon and they all just leave, guess they wise.
- Hm, guess splitting up didn't end badly. Color me a bit surprised.
- Well it's not very ideal to electrify yourself, but what do I know?

Small steps of progress!

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 19: Charge it Up!​

Inside of Chargestone Cave lies constant cyan-colored sparks, most emitted by rocks of the same color, giving a constant flicker of light as if a lightbulb has almost reached the end of its usefulness. Along the usual traveled path are stones that float like there’s a lack of gravity under them.

Without a need for a flashlight, Arti accompanied by Mary starts walking along the aforementioned path.

“So, how should we approach this? Joltik are attracted to electricity.” Arti recounts what he has seen in wild Pokemon documentaries.

“I can have Kirlia push any Joltik away from you as you charge the Dark Stone.” Mary considers a solution.

“Good idea, what about a potential Klink encounter?” Arti replies with a question. “I could bring out Krookodile, but losing focus might cost me this trial.”

“Golurk will handle it.” Mary reassures.

“Thank you, if you need any help too, just let me know.” Arti replies.

Without further discussion, the couple starts making their way through the cyan-hued cave. Turning a little bit to the right is an electrically charged rock emitting little bolts that flash in split seconds. Arti approaches the rock, still with a little bit of uncertainty, but he knows he will need to push through the feeling.

“Here it goes…” Arti prepares as he holds the Dark Stone with one hand while reaching toward the rock with another.

Despite the initial hesitation, the most he felt as a tingling sensation, as well as his hair rising ever so slightly upon touching the rock with his hand. The Dark Stone in his other hand began to glow, thanks to the combination of the power it absorbed from the previous trial with the electricity it’s absorbing now.

“I never knew the Dark Stone would actually glow like that.” Mary admits, noting the detail down.

As the Dark Stone stops absorbing electricity from the rock, Arti feels a stronger shock from said rock, making him take his hand from it.

“Whoa!” Arti reacts to the shock.

“Are you okay?!” Mary asks, worried about Arti.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just need to be careful with the recoil shock.” Arti responds, trying to ease Mary’s worries.

The two continue deeper into the cyan-tinted cavern, Arti notices a big, floating stone blocking the path, he tries to push it out of the way, but it somehow stays on it’s spot.

“Is this somehow magnetized?” Arti thinks as he tries pushing the levitating stone another way, in the direction of the next charged rock.

The floating stone suddenly moves toward said rock, slamming into it and staying stuck, with the path clear, the adventuring couple starts taking steps toward the rock, until Arti felt something tiny crawl on his right leg.

“Not to bother you, but I think there might be a Joltik trying to get the electricity of the Dark Stone.” Arti points out.

“I’ll take care of it.” Mary responds, then throws out the Poke Ball containing Kirlia.

“Kirli!” the Emotion Pokemon yells out, ready for battle.

“Kirlia, use Psychic to get the Joltik off Arti’s leg!” Mary commands Kirlia.

The Emotion Pokemon closes its eyes, then uses its psychic powers to grab the Joltik and flings it off Arti’s leg. The Attaching Pokemon grabs hold of the charged stone ahead instead, feeding off its electricity instead.

Mary quickly retracts Kirlia back into its Poke Ball.

Arti approaches the same rock, hoping that the Joltik won’t try to siphon electricity charges off the Dark Stone again. Upon touching the rock, he felt yet another tingling, this time keeping his eyes on the Dark Stone to make sure he doesn’t get another shock. Once he sees the glow of the Dark Stone start to match that of the floating stones in the cave, he takes his hand away from the rock.

“That’s enough charge for now.” Arti decides, not noticing that his hair has risen up even more.

Mary looks at Arti’s hair, trying not to giggle at it.

With a narrower path to the next rock, Arti begins thinking as he walks toward it, with Mary following him. What will he do once he begins the third and final Trial of Ideals? Kyurem has never told him ahead of time. The thinking slowly turned into worry and self-doubt, what if he can’t accomplish the third trial? He tries to end that thought early by quickening his pace to the next rock with sparks all around, which was around the right corner.

Mary notices Arti picking up the pace.

“Are you okay?” Mary asks.

“I’m fine.” Arti lied, he doesn’t want Mary to worry. He will eventually decide to tell her, but he’d rather not lose focus of the trial.

Thankfully, the thought was eventually interrupted by an ambush from a Klink.

“Ah!” Arti is surprised.

“Golurk, it’s your turn!” Mary throws out the Poke Ball containing Golurk.

“Luurk” the Automaton Pokemon’s low voice echoes throughout the cave.

Arti quickly advances to the charged rock, hoping to keep the Dark Stone away from the Gear Pokemon. The Klink gives chase, but the Gear Pokemon eventually comes face-to-face with Golurk.

“Klink!” the two faces of Klink say in unison as they spin quickly, generating enough electricity to launch a Thunder Shock at the Automaton Pokemon.

Despite the huge charge of the Thunder Shock, Golurk didn’t flinch at all and was completely unfazed.

“Use Earth Power!” Mary commands.

The Automaton Pokemon stomped on the ground, the rumble caused spikes to appear and hit the Klink.

“Klink!” the two faces panicked, they tried another Thunder Shock in desperation, but just like last time, it didn’t do anything to Golurk.

Mary decides to catch the Gear Pokemon, so she takes an empty Poke Ball out of her bag and throws it.

The Poke Ball hits Klink, then opens and absorbs the Gear Pokemon into its opening, then closes. After the Poke Ball shook three times, the button in the middle stopped glowing.
Arti saw the whole battle.

“Thank you for helping me with this.” Arti thanks Mary.

“I always wanted to catch a Klink.” Mary admits.

Arti finally places his hand on the rock, the Dark Stone intensifies its glow as it receives more and more charges, now glowing a little more brightly than the floating pebbles in the area.

While Arti did say he was fine, Mary knows he is not fine. So she will try to talk to him while the two push another floating stone out of the way.

“Arti, I know you’re not fine, I need you to tell me.” Mary brings the topic up again.

After going around the floating stone a bit, they give it a push toward the rock that charged the Dark Stone.

“Fine, I will tell you, but you might not like what you hear.” Arti says as he begins, “You see, at the beginning, I thought that I would only need one legendary Pokemon to save Unova, not three. While Kyurem has already joined me, I still need to get the Dark Stone’s, or more accurately, Zekrom’s approval.”

There are two stairs, one directly in front and the one on their right. The two decided to ascend the stairs to their right first for the next electrically charged rock. Arti goes for a farther, more remote rock.

“After the loss against Elesa on the first battle, I lost a bit of confidence, even if I won the second battle after some training.” Arti continues explaining as he places his hand on the rock, with many sparks now being directed to his hand and charging the Dark Stone once more.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that. I’m sure that was only a minor setback.” Mary tries to comfort Arti without making any physical contact with him so she doesn’t accidentally get the charge meant for the Dark Stone.

“Honestly, if anything, I’m surprised that the Dark Stone even gave me a second chance.” Arti admits, noticing the stone he mentioned has a glow that matches the brightness of a flashlight as he finishes charging it.

The couple heads back to the staircase they have ascended. Arti takes this opportunity to charge the Dark Stone even more as he touches the rock that he passed by earlier.

“I think that the Dark Stone sensed your hidden ambition to do good, the ambition that’s hard to notice until you discover it by improving yourself, which might be why it gave you another chance.” Mary mentions.

The Dark Stone now matches the glow of the charged rocks around the cave, signaling that the trial is almost done.

“I guess you’re right. It’s just that my parents always had the attitude that I have to somehow do the best at every single thing that I do, regardless of importance. And if I didn’t live up to their expectations, they would scold me non-stop. It wasn’t just my dad either, my mom was actually worse than he was, doing physical punishment alongside scolding me the same way.” Arti explains as he and Mary descend the stairs to the remote corner, then ascends the different flight of stairs leading to the north of the cave.

As they head east and push two floating stones out of their way, the couple reaches yet another flight of stairs, quickly descending. After descending the stairs, Mary gives in to her instinct and hugs Arti to comfort him. The couple resumes their way afterward, heading towards the next electrically charged rock they see.

Arti touches the cyan-colored rock, charging the Dark Stone once more. Mary sends out Golurk again to keep anyone, whether a person or Pokemon, away from Arti now that he’s close to finishing the second Trial of Ideals. They start feeling like someone is watching them.

“Um, am I the only one being watched by anybody except us?” Arti asks as he keeps his focus on the Dark Stone.

“You’re not the only one, I feel that too.” Mary answers, ready to battle anyone who intends to intervene with Arti’s progress on the trial.

“Luuurk!” the Automaton Pokemon roars as it prepares to protect both trainers.

Upon charging the Dark Stone, which is now anything but dark, it began to have the brightest glow in the cave, making the surrounding rocks dim by comparison. However, the Dark Stone is not yet satisfied.

“Hmm, is this enough of a charge?” Arti asks as he takes his hand off the rock.

Before long, he heard a deep male voice in his head saying “No”.

Mary checks her notes about the Dark Stone and concludes.

“It seems that the Dark Stone’s brightness should match that of peak daylight for it to be satisfied with its result.” Mary explains to Arti, “Don’t worry, it should have that kind of brightness from its next charge.”

After arriving at the final charged rock needed for the Dark Stone to receive its final charge, Arti notices someone near the exit of the cave. Someone who looks like a scientist observing the Trial of Ideals taking place.

Who is this? He doesn’t look like one of those Tectonic Inc. people, yet he seems interested in what Arti has been doing. Arti quickly places his hand on the closest electrically-charged rock, hoping the trial can be complete before any more attention is drawn to it.

“I think it’s a good idea to speed this up.” Arti says.

“Why?” Mary asks.

“Remember when we felt like we were being watched?” Arti asks a follow-up question.

“Yes.” Mary answers.

“Well, we were right that we were being watched. I can’t let the Dark Stone fall into the wrong hands.” Arti explains his reason.

Once the Dark Stone reached its peak charge, it became as bright as the sun. However, something unexpected happened. The Dark Stone lost all of its glow. Arti was understandably shocked and annoyed.

“What happened?!” Arti reacts to the Dark Stone losing the glow, “Have I done this trial for nothing?!”

“Let me check my notes to see if there’s anything about the Dark Stone dimming, we may be able to solve this problem.” Mary looks through her book, only to find nothing.

The Poke Ball containing Kyurem began shaking, the Boundary Pokemon seemed to have sensed everything. Arti does not hesitate to send out the legendary Pokemon.

“The Dark Stone is ready.” Kyurem immediately says.

“Are you sure?” Arti asks.

“It’s impossible to see, but I can sense that it wants to go to a specific place.” the Boundary Pokemon answers.

“What place is that?” Arti asks a follow-up question, now relieved.

“You must go to the Dragonspiral Tower.” Kyurem explains. “I cannot speak anymore of your task at this time.”

Nodding, Arti retracts Kyurem back into its Poke Ball, now turning his attention to the exit of the Chargestone Cave.

“I guess I should put this away before anyone else sees.” Arti says as he opens up his backpack and places the Dark Stone inside before closing the bag.

“Now that the Dark Stone is safe, I think we should take a little break once we are in Mistralton City.” Mary suggests as she retracts both of her Pokemon back into their Poke Balls.

“Good idea.” Arti accepts, putting his backpack back on and turning toward the exit.

The two make their way towards the exit of Chargestone Cave, a bit worried that someone else saw the Dark Stone charged up. Strangely, the scientist they have seen before seems to have disappeared into the light illuminating the exit. As Arti and Mary exit Chargestone Cave, the adventuring couple wonders what is the final Trial of Ideals and what would need to be done.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 20: The Mistralton Dilemma​

A bright day makes itself very clear to Arti and Mary, who had just finished their trek through Chargestone Cave and now have reached Mistralton City.

Mistralton City, if it can be called a city, has a Pokemon Center close to the mouth of the cave, a house to the east and north, and west to the northern house is the Cargo Service, a place that handles cargo, both for sending and receiving various goods across the region. To the west of all of the aforementioned places sits a runway which planes use to begin flight as well as using it for landing.

Most of the runway is blocked by fences, with the only way to be west from the Cargo Service, at one end of the runway sits the Mistralton City Gym, and at the other end are many glass enclosures with crops inside. Some of the glass panes have been chipped due to the aftershock from the tremor that happened at Driftveil City.

“Ah, it’s good to finally be outside!” Arti excitedly greets the sunlight, unaware that his hair is slowly coming back down.

“I think we should take a break at the Pokemon Center before going to Route 7.” Mary suggests.

“That’s a good idea, maybe we can try to see which way in Twist Mountain would lead to Icirrus City.” Arti agrees with his own suggestion added on.

The couple heads slightly north, then east to enter the Pokemon Center, while Mary gives her Pokemon to the nurse at the counter to heal, Arti takes a look at the selection of items at the Poke Mart that might help him in the coming Trial of Ideals, then buys a few Poke Balls, being careful not to run out of Pokedollars. Arti and Mary then sit at the table on the left, discussing the way through Twist Mountain.

“Twist Mountain is right after Route 7.” Arti brings out his map from his backpack, careful not to let the Dark Stone be seen.

“And right after Twist Mountain is Icirrus City!” Mary points at the map where the aforementioned city sits.

“Unfortunately, getting through Twist Mountain will be easier said than done.” Arti tries to temper expectations. “Documentaries I watched talked about how people would need the help of someone who works there to get out of this mountain if they didn’t have the right Pokemon with them.”

“So Twist Mountain is like a maze?” Mary asks.

“You could call it maze-like.” Arti responds.

“I actually never went to Twist Mountain before, I always assumed that someone is bound to find something ancient in there before I can.” Mary admits. “Anyways, I guess we can figure out once we do enter Twist Mountain, or maybe we can try to find a way to completely bypass it.”

“Yeah, I think the second option might be a better idea, let’s ask around before going to Route 7.” Arti decides as he puts his map back into his backpack.

The couple heads out of the Pokemon Center and decides to head to the runway, hoping there will be a pilot or Pokemon who can fly them over Twist Mountain. When they arrived, they noticed some of the glass enclosures with chips on them and overheard a man in pilot attire talking about waiting for someone.

“The plane’s force is too much for the crops inside the enclosures, we have to wait for the glassmaker to arrive.” the man makes it specifically clear to the Cargo Service employee facing him.

“We can’t wait for a day longer, we need this cargo sent to Icirrus City, they have been waiting for supplies since yesterday!” the Cargo Service employee responds.

Overhearing this conversation, Arti and Mary went to investigate. Arti decides to speak to the two men who are arguing about whether to send the cargo now or wait for the glassmaker to arrive.

“Hello, I heard you need help.” Arti greets the two while offering to help in any way that he can.

“It’s impossible for all this cargo to be carried without a plane or a really strong Pokemon, so if you think you could carry all this in one day, you’re out of luck.” the Cargo Service Employee points out.

“I know that, but what if I can find this glassmaker for you?” Arti asks a question, trying to quickly get to how he will help.

“That will be a huge help for us! We are currently stuck here sending nothing.” the pilot responds.

“So, where have you last heard of the glassmaker?” Arti asks, hoping to get at least one clue.

“We unfortunately do not know.” the pilot answers the question. “However, he does bring a Heatmor with him, and there are no wild Heatmor in Route 7.

Arti hoped to get some more concrete answers for a clearer place to start the search, but he knew that this glassmaker needs to be found as soon as possible so Icirrus City won’t need to wait a day further for supplies. With no other possible leads, he and Mary head to Route 7 to start their search.

The first half of Route 7 consists of very tall grass, tall enough to the need of hands to push the towering blades aside. The first patch of them is just past the first flight of stairs climbing to the left, leading to another flight of stairs climbing down right after a big chunk of the grass, a tight walkway snakes from the ground to above the aforementioned patch of very tall grass, splits in a fork in which immediately ends its let part, but continues on for the entirety of the second patch of the very tall grass. Near the left fork sits a house with a red roof.

Arti and Mary start their investigation, deciding to go up the stairs that climb to the left in order to get a better view, only to find a lone Heatmor just waiting for its partner.

“Wait, didn’t they say there are no wild Heatmor in this route?” Mary asks Arti.

“Yes they did, this must be the glassmaker’s Heatmor. And I know who will be able to translate what this Heatmor can tell us.” Arti responds, then brings out the Poke Ball containing Kyurem, the Boundary Pokemon materializing nearby.

“Do you need help with a battle right now?” Kyurem asks Arti.

“No, I need to understand what this Heatmor can tell me.” Arti points to the Anteater Pokemon.

“Is this related to your quest at all?” the Boundary Pokemon asks another question.

“Well… I think so?” Arti tries to answer the question.

“Tell me the specifics.” Kyurem requests.

“Well, long story short, Mistralton City can’t send its supplies to Icirrus City until a glassmaker arrives. And maybe I could find a way to skip going through Twist Mountain.” Arti explains.

“Are you afraid of Twist Mountain?” the Boundary Pokemon responds with a question.

“Well no, it’s because it’s very maze-like in there. Getting lost is the last thing we need when Tectonic Inc. will still be running around causing tremors everywhere.” Arti answers Kyurem’s question.

“You have convinced me then, talk to that Heatmor and I will tell you what it’s saying.” Kyurem decides.

Arti walks toward the Anteater Pokemon.

“Hey, are you waiting for your partner?” Arti asks Heatmor.

“Heat” the Anteater Pokemon answers.

“Yes.” Kyurem translates.

“Can you tell me last where you have seen him?” Arti asks a follow-up question.

“Mor heat hea mo, morheat heat heat mor mor.” Heatmor responds, then seems to point deeper into Route 7.

“He told me to wait here, then he went to that tower over there.” the Boundary Pokemon translates once more.

“That’s the Celestial Tower!” Mary realized.

“Thanks for your cooperation, we will be sure to bring him back to you!” Arti promises the Anteater Pokemon.

Hope begins to show in Heatmor’s eyes.

With the next clue, Arti retracts Kyurem back into its Poke Ball before he and Mary continue making their way through Route 7.


Upon climbing down the flight of stairs closer to the end of the very tall grass patch, Arti and Mary come across yet another, smaller patch, only separated by a line of trees that’s part of a larger group of trees enveloping the route from the east. The second patch of very tall grass can be avoided if one can walk the tight walkway above it. Arti and Mary try to do just that.

“Whoa, hey steady now.” Arti says as he tries to keep his balance.

“Let’s not get needlessly hurt here.” Mary adds, also trying to keep her balance.

Without them realizing it, their paces quickened as if their feet were in total control, getting over the smaller patch of very tall grass.

After getting down from the walkway, they see even more of Route 7, with very tall grass lining both the left and right sides of the path, at the end of the path itself sits Celestial Tower, a spiraling tower that serves as the final resting place for Pokemon, naturally being a place in which a large number of Ghost-type Pokemon gather.

“There it is.” Arti says, “We need to be careful, he might have been the victim of a Litwick.”

“A Litwick?” Mary asks.

“Those Pokemon might look like they want to be your guide, however that’s false, they are only after your life force.” Arti explains.

“Maybe that’s why I heard people coming out of Celestial Tower being the most tired in their lives.” Mary wonders.

Over the patch of grass to the right is yet another thin walkway, which leads to yet another red-roofed house. After the house is yet another staircase, which climbs up to the right, followed up by another staircase that climbs down south to another patch of the same, but darker grass, with another walkway that ends to the right, an alternate staircase climbs down to the left, north of the dark patch of grass. One more patch of very tall grass ends the second half of Route 7, coupled with yet another thin walkway going over it. Just right after them is the entrance to Twist Mountain.

As said before, Arti and Mary don’t plan on going into Twist Mountain, as getting lost would be very counterproductive on their quest. Instead, they decide to go to Celestial Tower, a tower that spirals skyward, it is a tower entirely made of stone, with a darker stone foundation.

The adventuring couple takes the path directly to the aforementioned tower, ready for a battle for their life. Once inside it, they hear what sounds like a weak groaning coming from one of the upper floors of the tower, each of the three floors in Celestial Tower features gravestones each honoring the Pokemon whose names are etched into them. The floor is entirely made of stone bricks, as are the walls, with archway designs also carved into the walls, each floor having a staircase spiral along the walls, eventually leading up to the bell at the top.

Not long after entering, a wild Litwick appears to the couple, Mary starts to feel a little tired. The Candle Pokemon, on the other hand, is clearly smiling, not out of happiness, but out of something much darker it has in mind.

“Uh Arti, I’m not feeling well. What is happening to me?” Mary asks Arti.

“It’s the Litwick! Don’t worry, I’ll get it off of us.” Arti assures Mary before grabbing the Poke Ball containing Krookodile and tossing it.

“Krook!” the Intimidation Pokemon announces its entry.

“Alright Krookodile, I need you to use Crunch on that Litwick!”

Krookodile just nods affirmingly as it opens its jaws and clamps down on the Candle Pokemon.

“Wiiick!” Litwick lets out a ghostly scream, running away from Krookodile after being released, thus leaving Mary alone.

At that moment, Mary seems to have her energy back, as if nothing happened.

“Wow, if that Litwick was stealing my life force, then I should bring out a Pokemon for protection.” Mary says as she sends out Klink.

The quartet starts making their way up the first flight of stairs, with the same groaning growing closer and getting louder. They are stopped by eight more Litwick, each of the Candle Pokemon having a dark smile as if they found their prey. Now both Arti and Mary are having their life force sapped, but they will resist the Litwick.

“Time to send in a helper for our Pokemon!” Arti exclaims while he sends out Gallade.

“Go Kirlia!” Mary sends out Kirlia.

“Okay Gallade, use Psycho Cut!” Arti orders the Blade Pokemon.

“Kirlia, use your Psychic to protect us!” Mary orders the Emotion Pokemon.

Gallade’s arms turn purple as the Blade Pokemon swings at two Litwick in front of it, with Kirlia launching a mindwave at two more.

“Okay Klink, use a Thunder Shock!” Mary orders the Gear Pokemon.

“Klink!” the two faces generate a powerful spark of electricity that hits two more Litwick.

“Krookodile, use Foul Play!” Arti orders the Intimidation Pokemon once more.

Krookodile jumps at the remaining two Litwick and forces their flames on each other, making both Pokemon yell from the sudden burn of their violet flames.

Facing stiff counterattacks, all eight of the Candle Pokemon ran away from the group of heroes. Arti and Mary continue making their way up the stairs, hearing that same groan being louder. After climbing the stairs, they see a weakened man, he wears gloves, an apron, and a heat safety mask.

“That could actually be the glassmaker we were looking for!” Arti realizes.

“Yes, that could actually be him!” Mary agrees.

Unfortunately for the couple, many Litwick surrounded the man before they could even move. This group of Litwick is more than ten at this point, all continuing to sap the glassmaker’s life force.

“Hey, get away from him!” Arti demands the Candle Pokemon.

The Litwick turns toward the group, all with a sadistic expression. Gallade knew what this meant as the Blade Pokemon charged at the Candle Pokemon. This group of Litwick isn’t going to let this happen so easily, as each one uses Ember.

In response Krookodile uses Dig, burrowing underground, then hitting some of the Candle Pokemon from below.

“Klink, keep using your Thunder Shock!” Mary says to the Gear Pokemon.

“Kliink!” Klink launches one Thunder Shock after another after another, each hitting a Litwick.

Kirlia uses Psychic in defense from all of the Embers being launched by the Candle Pokemon, however, the Emotion Pokemon starts glowing brightly, throwing the Litwick off-guard by the sudden intense light as it grows brighter and bigger, this gives an opportunity for the others to get the glassmaker out of there.

“Okay Gallade and Krookodile, help the glassmaker get out of this tower.” Arti tells the two Pokemon.

Both Pokemon agree to the request and start carrying the glassmaker downstairs, meanwhile, the rest stay to make sure the evolution finishes.

The spot in which a Kirlia used to be now stands a Gardevoir.

“Kirli- I mean Gardevoir, you have evolved!” Mary tells the Embrace Pokemon.

“Garde.” Gardevoir takes a look at its new body, then without Mary’s command, launches a powerful Psybeam at the Litwick before they could recover.

The Litwick are stunned by what just happened, giving time for Arti and the rest to follow Gallade and Krookodile outside unnoticed. Once caught up to the two Pokemon, Arti, Mary, and their Pokemon decide to let the glassmaker recover his energy.

“Who are you?” the glassmaker asks.

“My name is Arti.” Arti introduces himself.

“And mine is Mary.” Mary does the same.

“Can you tell us what happened?” Arti asks.

“I’m still regaining my energy, so sure, I will tell you what happened.” the glassmaker agrees, “It all started when I got a request from Mistralton City to fix some chipped glass, I told my Heatmor to wait closer to the city while I went in to pay respects to my previous helper at the Celestial Tower. A Litwick appeared close to me, it was only following me, so I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but I started feeling tired and then wasn’t feeling well when more Litwick showed up, I was unable to escape at that point.”

“At least we came by and saved you.” Mary tells the glassmaker.

“This reminds me that I made a promise that your Heatmor wants to see you again.” Arti points out.

“Then what are we waiting for?” the glassmaker gets up.

“I have an idea!” Mary says as she sends out Golurk while retracting both Klink and Gardevoir.

“Great idea!” Arti responds, retracting both Krookodile and Gallade back into their Poke Balls.

“Golurk, can you take us back to Mistralton City? Oh and don’t forget to also pick up the Heatmor along the way!” Mary tells the Automaton Pokemon.

“Lurrrk” Golurk picks up everyone in the group and retracts its legs, now flying, then carries the three back to Mistralton City, only to stop for the Heatmor near the beginning of Route 7, then also carrying the Anteater Pokemon.

“You can let us off here.” Mary points to the Pokemon Center.

The Automaton Pokemon lands near the Pokemon Center, this time with its legs again. Golurk is then drawn back into its Poke Ball.

“I feel like getting something done today!” the glassmaker suddenly says.

“Heat mor!” Heatmor shares the same feeling.

They go to the runway and talk to the pilot, who points at the glass panes that have been chipped.

“While he fixes those glass panes, I think we can take our Pokemon to be restored, they have battled their hardest for us today after all.” Arti suggests.

“Let’s do that.” Mary agrees.

The adventuring couple heads inside the Pokemon Center and take turns handing their Pokemon to the woman over the counter.

“So, what do you think you will do after the final Trial of Ideals?” Mary asks Arti.

“Whatever is the next step in my quest off course.” Arti answers.

The two kept talking for what felt like hours. The couple went back outside, only to see the glassmaker and his Heatmor depart in Route 7’s direction.

“Oh hey! The glass panes are fixed!” the pilot shouts to Arti and Mary. “This cargo can finally go to Icirrus City.”

“That’s great! So, can you drop us off there as well?” Arti asks the pilot.

“Not a fan of Twist Mountain? Sure I can drop you off!” the pilot answers.

“That’s perfect, thank you!” Arti responds.

After the cargo has been loaded into the plane, Arti and Mary go inside the plane through one of the side doors.

“Oh and this is for making this flight possible.” the pilot hands a Big Nugget to Arti.

“Wow, thank you!” Arti thanks the pilot again.

As the plane sputters on, it takes flight, heading to Icirrus City.

Arti and Mary wonder what is next after the final Trial of Ideals, Arti knows he’s not ready to fight the stronger members of Tectonic Inc. yet, whether he will have another dream pointing to the next step in his quest or not remains to be seen. He knows one thing: the final Trial of Ideals will be the hardest one yet, so he plans to prepare as best as he can once he arrives at Icirrus City.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 21: The Deep Black Thunder​

The plane in which Arti and Mary are inside lands near the exit from Twist Mountain. Once they step out of the plane, they are met with a beautiful sight: a windmill on top of a hill, another windmill just sitting across a large puddle, a house on another hill across the first windmill, and another house right by the puddle.

“We are finally here!” Arti says excitedly.

“So, what should we do now that we are here?” Mary asks.

“Well, to go to Dragonspiral Tower off course.” Arti answers, then says “But first, I need to have the necessary items, and I’m afraid I’m almost out of Pokedollars.”

“Let’s go to the Pokemon Center first so we can figure out what we can do.” Mary responds, pointing to the stairs that climb up.

After climbing the stairs, the adventuring couple sees a Pokemon Center not too far off, it’s right by a bridge that connects to the other piece of heightened land, going over the house by the puddle. There are three other houses, two of which are across from eachother with a few trees in between, the house on the left sports a sign reading ‘Pokemon Fan Club’, the last house is just north of the house on the right. West of the lone house is the archway that led to the now-closed Ice-type Gym. All of the roofs of the houses and windmills are faded brown.

Arti and Mary head over to the Pokemon Center and immediately sit down at the table, planning to discuss their plans.

“So, how am I going to be able to have enough Pokedollars to do this final Trial of Ideals? I only have enough for five Ultra Balls and a few Super Potions.” Arti explains.

“Hmm, maybe there are a few quick-paying jobs around here?” Mary thinks out loud, “Maybe you could battle some more Pokemon trainers.”

“Well, I do have this Big Nugget that the pilot gave to me back at the plane. Now that I think about it, it’s useless to my quest, but maybe it’s worth something.” Arti says as he brings the aforementioned golden item out of his backpack.

In only a matter of seconds, the adventuring couple notices a gentleman by the counter in which Pokemon is healed, he is clearly looking in their direction.

“You know, we could ask someone how much this Big Nugget can be sold. And it seems we have someone who might be interested.” Arti tells Mary.

“That could be a good idea.” Mary says to Arti.

The couple gets up from the chairs near the table and walks over to the gentleman.

“Oh hello there young ones!” the gentleman greets the couple.

“Uh hi, so I noticed that you looked in our direction when I brought out this Big Nugget.” Arti tells the gentleman.

“I’m what others call me an Ore Maniac.” the gentleman introduces himself. “You have something that I would like to have.”

“Oh, you mean the Big Nugget?” Arti asks.

“Off course.” the Ore Maniac answers, “I will give you 30,000 Pokedollars if you give me that Big Nugget.”

“Oh wow, that’s a lot. You got yourself a deal!” Arti excitedly says as he hands over the Big Nugget to the Ore Maniac.

“Wise decision.” the Ore Maniac says as he gives 30,000 Pokedollars to Arti.

After the exchange, Arti and Mary went back to the table.

“We surely got lucky.” Mary says.

“Yes, and now I can buy more of the necessary items. I’m thinking ten Hyper Potions and 15 Ultra Balls should be more than enough to be prepared for the upcoming trial.” Arti says as he gets up from the chair and heads over to the Poke Mart counter, then buys the aforementioned amount of the aforementioned items.

To be extra prepared, Arti also takes his Pokemon over to the healing counter to make sure his Pokemon are also ready for the final Trial of Ideals. After which, he and Mary head outside of the Pokemon Center. Before Arti could say anything, the Poke Ball containing Gallade started shaking.

“Huh?” Arti is confused a little bit, so he briefly lets the Blade Pokemon out of its Poke Ball.

“Gaa lade!” Gallade exclaims excitedly.

“Wait, so you forgot Slash and learned False Swipe?” Arti asks, knowing what the Blade Pokemon exclaimed to him.

“Gal! Lade gal galade.” Gallade nodded, then told Arti that it learned the move as it was fighting the Litwick while it was feeling a little bit guilty for using full force against the Candle Pokemon.

“That’s great! That move might just help us catch whichever Pokemon we might need to catch as part of the trial!” Arti congratulates the Blade Pokemon before retracting it into its Poke Ball.

“So Gallade couldn’t contain its excitement to you anymore, interesting.” Mary responds.

“Okay, to the Dragonspiral Tower we go!” Arti says as he and Mary head past all the houses and the Pokemon Gym.

The adventuring couple arrives at a group of trees north of Icirrus City, with a noticeable space in the middle of the trees large enough for them to pass through. Arti and Mary do so with no hesitation, arriving at the Dragonspiral Tower.

“Here we are, so what to do now?” Arti asks, noticing the Poke Ball containing Kyurem shaking. The Boundary Pokemon is let out of the Poke Ball.

“From here, I cannot tell you anything more about the Trials of Ideals.” Kyurem says to Arti.

“Why not?” Arti asks the Boundary Pokemon.

“Because now you must let the Dark Stone guide you through this trial, do not forget the strategies you have learned and used, as you might need them.” Kyurem explains to Arti.

Arti retracts Kyurem inside of its Poke Ball.

“So, now what?” Arti asks, no guidance.

Just then, the voice from the Dark Stone spoke to him telepathically. The voice said, “You must climb the Dragonspiral Tower, that is where the final Trial of Ideals will be.”

“Seems simple enough.” Arti replies.

“Simple enough for what?” Mary asks Arti, not hearing the voice from the Dark Stone.

“To climb to the top of Dragonspiral Tower.” Arti answers Mary’s question.

The adventuring couple finally crosses the bridge that connects the mainland to the hole in which lies the more well-known entrance to the Dragonspiral Tower, pillars irregularly line the sides of the bridge.

Once inside the Dragonspiral Tower, Arti and Mary find themselves inside the accessible floor, the tiles are moss green and the walls are made of aqua blue bricks, with white accents close to the floor and ceiling. Most of the room seems to be flooded except for the floor south, southeast, and east of the room, which has a staircase that leads to the second accessible floor.

“Amazing! This tower is much bigger than it seems, I bet that most of it is submerged underwater, waiting to be discovered!” Mary excitedly says.

“Yeah, it would be amazing if someone found the real entrance to this tower.” Arti agrees, then turns his attention toward the stairs.

Without further words, Arti and Mary headed toward the staircase and climbed to the next accessible floor. What met their eyes was a much bigger room, although debris littered its floor, which had identical tiles to the previous room, with the walls also matching between the rooms. There are a few collapsed pillars around the room, one of which is close to a staircase that climbs to the left.

“I wonder what this place was like.” Mary thinks as she notes the details she could look into later.

The adventuring couple make their way through the room, avoiding the debris littering the moss-green floor, then heading up the stairs and into the next room, which begins with a spiral staircase. At the top of the aforementioned staircase lies a potentially dangerous yellow-tiled floor, with ramps to help get across gaps. If one were to peer into the gaps themselves, a large abyss is the only thing they will see. The walls are made of bricks that are the same color as the walls in the previous room.

“How tall is this tower?” Arti asks Mary as he ascends the spiral staircase.

“It must be really tall, considering a rather large part of it could be submerged underwater.” Mary answers as she follows Arti up the stairs.

Upon reaching the top of the staircase, Arti and Mary assess which line of ramps to cross. Arti starts getting a little bit anxious about the gaps, as the only other times he had experienced being high up, he had some sort of safety that would keep him from falling. But this floor has nothing that could keep anyone from falling.

“Um… do you think there’s a way to cross those gaps… you know, by having a Pokemon fly us over?” Arti asks as he feels something rapidly hitting his chest from the inside.

“I could bring out Golurk, but given the age of this structure, I don’t know if it will be able to handle Golurk’s weight.” Mary answers Arti’s question but doesn’t trust the floor.

“You know what, I changed my mind, let’s just cross over those gaps to get this floor over with.” Arti quickly decides, not wanting the anxiety to take over.

“I think the leftmost ramp will get us to the other side.” Mary analyzes the way to the opposite side.

The adventuring couple wastes no time to jump over the leftmost gap, then to the supporting yellow tiles that eventually lead to another staircase, which like the one before, spirals up the tower. Arti and Mary carefully walk up this staircase to the floor above.

Up the stairs lies another room with floors and walls with identical colors, Arti and Mary breathe a sigh of relief at seeing the the floor of the room being a lot larger throughout.

“Wait, I need to use a Repel before going, mine has just ran out.” Arti says as he brings out a Repel out of his backpack. He definitely doesn’t plan to encounter a wild Pokemon anytime soon.

Before long, the adventuring couple rush up the first staircase, which is relatively small, over the abyss below, then heading south toward the second staircase, which is the same length as the first, also over the abyss, then north to a longer staircase that’s suspended only by two opposite sets of yellow tiles.

“I feel like we are close to getting to the top.” Arti says as he ascends the staircase leading to the next floor.

“We have to, the air is starting to get thinner.” Mary agrees as she ascends the staircase leading to the next floor.

The adventuring couple find themselves in a room with a circular slightly darker yellow floor, which is segmented into four parts, with the gaps also being circular. Some gray slabs provide the way between the segments. In the middle of the room sits a large, central pillar supporting the structure. Some of the gray slabs are upright and completely over the segments, forcing Arti and Mary to find ways around them.

Arti and Mary start making their way to the next staircase that climbs to the floor above. They cross the different segments multiple times, careful not to get confused, or worse dizzy.

“Oh man, I’m starting to feel dizzy.” Arti says as he gets to the outermost segment for the fifth time. His vision wobbling around a bit.

“I think I’m getting dizzy too.” Mary responds as she follows Arti. Her vision also wobbling around.

However, before the two could make potential missteps, they managed to reach the aforementioned staircase that’s part of the outermost segment. They wait until their visions come back to normal before ascending to the room above.

Arti and Mary make their way up the staircase before them, eventually leading them into a room with the same pillar in the middle, with the tiles of the floor now back as the brighter yellow color. A linear section of the floor eventually leads to a larger, more open section with the same pillar seen in the previous room.

“Okay, we need to be careful here.” Arti says as carefully makes his way to the bigger section of the floor.

“How high up are we now?” Mary asks Arti while she follows him, taking quick peeks at the abyss below.

“I think we are close to the clouds at this point.” Arti makes a guess.

After arriving in the larger section of the floor, Arti and Mary hurry to the staircase on the south, this staircase spirals upward. They then climb it, despite feeling tired from climbing so many stairs in a single day.

“I seriously hope this is the final staircase I will have to climb today.” Arti truthfully admits.

“I’m kind of tired of climbing so many stairs.” Mary also admits.

The adventuring couple sits at the bottom steps, waiting until their legs are rested before climbing up the stairs, hoping that they finally reach the top of this tower.

To their relief, they did reach the top of Dragonspiral Tower. What meets their eyes are black broken pillars, each as a pair of two, totaling eight, there are pieces of said pillars scattered on the sides of the room. A hole in the wall back of the room reveals the clouds below, now taking a fading orange hue.

“So, what now?” Arti asks.

“We didn’t come all the way up here for nothing, right?” Mary asks a follow-up question.

When it seemed nothing has happened, Arti felt a strong vibration coming from his backpack, almost making him fall to the floor.

“Whoa!” Arti exclaims before opening his backpack.

Before he could investigate, Arti sees the Dark Stone floating out of the backpack and towards the middle of the room.

“Okay, so at least the Dark Stone moves on its own if brought to the right place.” Mary notes down what she sees, being on the lookout for any more details to note down.

Once the Dark Stone reached the middle of the room, it started to absorb a sort of dark aura into itself, until it suddenly stopped. A few seconds pass by until the Dark Stone itself is replaced by a Pokemon with its eyes closed and curled up, then the Pokemon opens its eyes, revealing them to be crimson-red. The Pokemon uncurls and lands on the floor, no more doubt of it being Zekrom itself. As Zekrom roars, its generator-like tail lights up in cyan before releasing a burst of electricity around the Deep Black Pokemon.

“Bazazazash!” Zekrom roars again as it sees the two humans before it.

“Tha- tha- that’s really the legendary Pokemon of ideals!” Arti tries to speak, but falters a little bit due to his surprise of seeing Zekrom right in front of him.

“To see the Pokemon that once followed one of the two brothers in the ancient past is… just… amazing!” Mary tries to keep her excitement from showing, noting Zekrom’s armor-like appearance down, even including the wings.

“Hero, you are now in the final Trial of Ideals.” the Deep Black Pokemon suddenly spoke through telepathy, having the same deep male voice from the dream. “Show me your strength!” Zekrom suddenly demands “Show me that you are the Hero of Ideals, convince me to be one of your allies!”

“If it’s a battle you want, then it’s a battle you will get!” Arti accepts, knowing that even if he wanted to back out, he could not. He sends out Kyurem to help against the Deep Black Pokemon.

“Hahraaanh!” the Boundary Pokemon roars out, then speaks through telepathy. “We meet again, Zekrom.”

“It seems you have a hero of your own.” the Deep Black Pokemon responds.

“It appears I have, I follow his commands now, you challenged him to a battle so we will have to fight.” Kyurem tells Zekrom.

“It appears so.” the Deep Black Pokemon prepares for battle, its tail lighting up as it surrounds itself in a sphere of pure cyan-colored electricity, flying up then slamming into the Boundary Pokemon.

“Hahraahn!” Kyurem takes a resisted hit from Zekrom’s Fusion Bolt.

“Kyurem, I need you to be strong in this battle and use Glaciate!” Arti commands the Boundary Pokemon.

Kyurem freezes the air around Zekrom, ice crystals form on the Deep Black Pokemon.

“Bazazazash!” the Deep Black Pokemon roars in pain from the ice. Zekrom then uses Dragon Claw on Kyurem, leaving a noticeably large scratch on the Boundary Pokemon’s body.

“Hahraaanh!” Kyurem roars its loudest.

“Are you okay?!” Arti asks the Boundary Pokemon.

“Focus on the battle. You cannot fail this one.” Kyurem tells Arti to stay focused.

“Let Krookodile handle this for now then.” Arti says as he returns the Boundary Pokemon back to its Poke Ball, then throws out the Poke Ball containing the Intimidation Pokemon.

“Krook!” Krookodile yells.

Zekrom uses a more powerful move known as Bolt Strike, surrounding itself in a sphere of cyan electricity and then lunging directly towards the Intimidation Pokemon.

Despite the move being more powerful, the only thing that happened to Krookodile was a harmless push.

“Okay Krookodile, use Foul Play!” Arti commands the Intimidation Pokemon.

Krookodile jumps up toward Zekrom and tricks the Deep Black Pokemon into hitting itself.

“Bazash!” Zekrom reacts to the hit.

The Deep Black Pokemon begins to weaken, but it’s far from enough for Zekrom to admit defeat. The Deep Black Pokemon uses Dragon Claw again, hitting Krookodile harder than usual.

“Kodile!” the Intimidation Pokemon yells.

“Here Krookodile!” Arti uses one of his Super Potions from his backpack.

Zekrom strikes the Intimidation Pokemon with Dragon Claw once again.

“Use Dig!” Arti commands Krookodile.

The Intimidation Pokemon burrows underground, avoiding another Dragon Claw from the Deep Black Pokemon. Then burrows from below Zekrom’s tail.

“Bazazash!” the Deep Black Pokemon reacts to the sudden hit.

Despite being severely weakened, Zekrom is still not done. As the Deep Black Pokemon uses another Dragon Claw, finishing Krookodile off.

“Kroo…” the Intimidation Pokemon is unable to battle.

“Maybe this can be saved.” Arti thinks about his next move while retracting Krookodile back into its Poke Ball, then decides to send out Gallade.

“Gal!” the Blade Pokemon gets ready for battle.

“Okay Gallade, use Psycho Cut!” Arti commands Gallade.

The Blade Pokemon’s arms glow purple, then Gallade swings at Zekrom, dealing more damage to the Deep Black Pokemon.

“Bazash!” Zekrom takes another hit.

The Deep Black Pokemon reacts with a Bolt Strike, cyan electricity bursting out in all directions as Zekrom slams Gallade into one of the pillars in the room.

“This may be risky, but I think I should try this.” Arti throws an Ultra Ball at the Deep Black Pokemon.

Zekrom is absorbed by the Ultra Ball, shaking within the spherical container. Just when Arti thought he had caught the Deep Black Pokemon, it breaks out.

Zekrom uses another attack directed towards Gallade, this time another Fusion Bolt. Due to sheer luck on the Blade Pokemon’s side, the Deep Black Pokemon missed the attack!

“Okay, Zekrom is knocked out, then I won’t be able to have it join my side.” Arti analyzes the battle, then commands Gallade, “Use False Swipe!”

“Gal!” the Blade Pokemon strikes Zekrom just hard enough to leave the Deep Black Pokemon at its weakest without knocking it out.

Zekrom reacts with another attack, this time Bolt Strike, but as luck would have it, the Deep Black Pokemon missed again.

Arti takes this opportunity to use another Super Potion to heal Gallade.

Zekrom uses Dragon Claw, swiping at the Blade Pokemon, leaving a big scratch on Gallade’s right arm.

“Lade!” the Blade Pokemon yells out from the pain, but remains standing.

“Time for another attempt!” Arti throws out another Ultra Ball at the Deep Black Pokemon.

The Ultra Ball shakes, making Arti even more nervous. When it seemed Zekrom was truly caught, the Deep Black Pokemon broke out again.

Zekrom surrounded itself in electricity again, lunging toward and hitting Gallade hard.

“Galla…” the Blade Pokemon drops to the ground, unable to battle. Gallade is then retracted into its Poke Ball.

“Darn it, I should’ve bought some Revives!” Arti begrudgingly sends Kyurem out into battle.

“Hahraahn!” the Boundary Pokemon roars out.

“Kyurem, I will need you to resist these attacks from Zekrom, it’s already as weakened as much as possible without knocking it out.” Arti tells Kyurem.

“I can see that you will try to make Zekrom your ally.” the Boundary Pokemon tells Arti.

“That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” Arti responds as he throws another Ultra Ball at the Deep Black Pokemon.

The Ultra Ball opens up and absorbs Zekrom into its interior before closing. The Ultra Ball shakes once, making Arti nervous.

“Ah, this is so nerve wracking!” Arti thinks.

The Ultra Ball shakes a second time, giving a little bit more hope.

“If I am defeated, you will fail this trial, as you let your other allies fall.” Kyurem warns Arti.

The Ultra Ball shakes a third time, at this moment everything falls silent. Until the Ultra Ball makes a click sound and the light on its button fades away.

“We- we did it!” Arti exclaims in excitement from catching the Deep Black Pokemon itself.

“Congratulations Arti!” Mary also exclaims excitedly, “I knew you could do it!”.

Mary then runs over to Arti and gives him a long kiss on the lips. Arti decides to enjoy this moment before he is let go.

“Thanks Mary!” Arti responds while going over to the now-filled Ultra Ball and picking it up.

One final voice sounds in Arti’s mind, it’s Zekrom’s voice saying “You are the Hero of Ideals, and we are allies now. I am at your command.” before fading away one final time.

“You have now finished the Trials of Ideals. Now you must get ready to face the Trials of Truth.” the Boundary Pokemon tells Arti “But you do not need to worry about them today, you will know when you come closer.” Kyurem decides not to burden Arti for now.

Arti nods as he retracts the Boundary Pokemon back into its Poke Ball.

“So, now you have two pieces of the Original Dragon with you.” Mary points out.

“Yeah, this actually feels unreal. So uh, how do we get down from here without walking all the way back?” Arti responds, then asks how to get out of Dragonspiral Tower.

“Let Golurk do that for us.” Mary sends out Golurk.

“Luurk” the Automaton Pokemon groans.

“Golurk, take us back to Icirrus City.” Mary commands Golurk.

The Automaton Pokemon picks up both Arti and Mary then heads out through the hole in the back of the room, descending through the clouds and to the city, setting the adventuring couple right next to the Pokemon Center.

“Thanks, Golurk.” Mary thanked the Automaton Pokemon before retracting it into its Poke Ball.

The adventuring couple heads inside the Pokemon Center, Arti goes to the counter to get his Pokemon healed while Mary takes a look at everything she wrote down about Zekrom, from how it's revived from the Dark Stone to how it chooses a hero. After retrieving his Pokemon, Arti sits down next to Mary.

Arti now has two Pokemon that were once a part of the Original Dragon, while he doesn’t know where the Light Stone ultimately ended up, he intends to take on the Trials of Truth, once he does find it. Mary, now more than ever, intends to stay with Arti as she definitely wants to see history repeating itself right in front of her eyes.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 22: Truce in the Marsh​

Icirrus City is covered in an orange glow, Arti and Mary see that same orange glow outside as they decide where to go next. Seeing they have no leads on where to find the Light Stone, the adventuring couple looks at the map.

“You know, I think it would be a great idea to visit Opelucid City.” Arti gets an idea.

“Is it because it has a Dragon-type specialist?” Mary asks.

“That’s exactly it, I think his name was Drayden?” Arti tries to remember the name.

“Oh, I remember hearing about him! Do you think he could know about the Light Stone?” Mary asks a follow-up question.

“Yeah, I think so.” Arti responds.

“Then yes, Opelucid City is where we will go next.” Mary decides.

Arti and Mary head out of the Pokemon Center and cross the bridge close to it, eventually going down the stairs at the hill that the bridge is connected to, then making a U-turn to their left, eventually making their way to a path that starts Route 8 to the north. Due to the many rains that happen here, there are three big puddles of water, the first of which lies to the left of the entrance to the route, with only a line of trees, many blades of grass, and a bed of flowers to break up the monotony of the now orange-colored water, featuring the similar orange-colored sky in its reflection.

The second puddle lies just past the group of trees that conjoins with the group of trees to the right, this puddle is the largest of the three, covering most of the top-left of the route, with some tree stumps on the shallower parts of the puddle, while two more stumps and a log are present in the deeper middle.

“We should get a move on, it’s going to get dark soon.” Arti says.

“We can just camp out here if necessary.” Mary points out.

“Okay, but let's see if we can at least get closer to Tubeline Bridge.” Arti accepts.

The adventuring couple start making their way around the trees in front of them, only taking two steps inside the first puddle on the left, then getting to the drier patch of blades of grass. Just as the couple stopped by the largest puddle of the route, Mary remembered something.

“Wait, I almost forgot that the Moor of Icirus can be accessed from this route!” Mary tells Arti. “I really want to go there.”

“I have an idea, you can go ahead to the Moor of Icirrus while I find a way to the Tubeline Bridge, and we can meet up there.” Arti gives an idea.

“That could work for both of us.” Mary accepts. “Okay see you at the Tubeline Bridge!”

As Mary heads off to the Moor of Icirrus accessible through a gap between trees at the northeast of Route 8, Arti tries to figure out how to avoid battling wild Pokemon so he can get to Tubeline Bridge before the sun sinks into the horizon. He makes his way through the puddle, only to hear a voice he has dreaded to hear.

“Look who it is!” Bruin makes an appearance behind Arti.

“You again?” Arti says as he turns around.

“Did your tiny brain forget? I said that I will battle you again!” Bruin mocks Arti.

“But do you really want to battle me? I caught a powerful Pokemon just recently.” Arti tries to get Bruin off his back.

“Your lie will not work on me, this time, you will lo- wait who are those people behind you?” Bruin was about to initiate a battle before getting interrupted by the sudden arrival of individuals behind Arti.

“Huh?” Arti turns around to see Tectonic Inc. employees start to set up the base of a tremor maker, with one acting as a foreman. “Oh great, Tectonic Inc. is here too?”

“This area is the property of Tectonic Inc., if you don’t leave now, you will be fined.” the foreman tells Arti and Bruin.

“No random person tells me what to do!” Bruin reacts.

“This is not your property, you are going to cause destruction here if you make tremors happen.” Arti warns the foreman.

“This is your last warning, leave now or face the repercussions.” the foreman says one final time.

“Hey Bruin, how about we make a truce to kick these guys out of Route 8?” Arti offers.

“Deal! These people don’t get to tell me what to do at all!” Bruin accepts the truce.

Arti brings out the Ultra Ball containing Zekrom, while Bruin brings out a Great Ball.

“You have made a big mistake.” the foreman brings out his own Poke Ball.

A female employee joins the foreman, with another Poke Ball in hand.

A multi-battle is about to commence as the four participants get ready to throw their Pokemon into battle.

“Zekrom, time for you to show me your ideal battling capabilities!” Arti says as he throws out the Ultra Ball.

“Bazazash!” the Deep Black Pokemon roars as its crimson eyes gaze upon the opponents.

Everyone but Arti is shocked by Zekrom’s presence.

“But… What? How did you…?” Bruin is at a loss for words due to clearly seeing the Deep Black Pokemon joining Arti’s side.

“Don’t act so surprised by what I will tell you later.” Arti tells Bruin.

“Then you have to tell me when the battle is over.” Bruin responds in a demand, “Let’s scare these losers out of here, Metagross!” he throws out the Great Ball.

“Metagross!” the Iron Leg Pokemon speaks in a robotic voice.

“Um sir, are you sure we can defeat them?” the female employee asks the foreman.

“Positive, just because one of them has a legendary Pokemon against us doesn’t mean anything when we have our own method of powering up our own Pokemon.” the foreman responds as he sends out a Pupitar.

“Pupitar!” the Hard Shell Pokemon does its battle cry.

“Then in that case.” the employee sends out her Lairon.

“Lairon.” the Iron Shell Pokemon emits a low growl.

“Ha! Do you think you can beat us with those Pokemon?!” Bruin mocks his opponents.

The foreman seemed to pull out a strange remote, pointing at both Pupitar and Lairon, then pressing a combination of buttons on it, causing a beam to shoot out at both of the Pokemon, creating a silhouette of their evolved forms without the Pokemon themselves evolving.

“Oh no, this is what I feared would happen.” Arti reacts to the situation in front.

“What just happened?” Bruin asked.

“Their Pokemon just got powerful immediately, without taking a single second of training.” Arti answers.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Bruin accuses the foreman.

“We will do anything to get our way, that includes cheating.” the foreman responds.

“We are giving you one final chance to leave now.” the employee warns.

“Enough talk already!” Bruin demands, “Metagross, use Meteor Mash on the Pupitar!”

“Zekrom, use Fusion Bolt on the Lairon!” Arti commands Zekrom.

“Meta!” Metragross throws an extremely fast punch at the Hard Shell Pokemon, sounds of rock breaking could be heard, but the move strangely only hit the Tyranitar silhouette, leaving the actual Pupitar mostly unharmed.

“Bazash!” the Deep Black Pokemon surrounds itself in a sphere of cyan-colored electricity, flies up then slams into the Iron Shell Pokemon. Again, while Lairon was electrocuted a little bit, the Aggron silhouette took most of the electrocution.

“This is getting to be a nuisance, Pupitar crush them with a Rock Slide.” the foreman commands the Hard Shell Pokemon.

The Pupitar moved as if to mimic the Tyranitar silhouette, launching rows upon rows of surprisingly large boulders at both Zekrom and Metagross. Despite the Iron Leg Pokemon resisting the impact of the rocks, it looks like it took major damage.

“Bazash!” the Deep Black Pokemon yells out.

“Another Rock Slide is in order.” the employee says as Lairon uses the same move as Pupitar.

The Aggron silhouette launches yet another avalanche of rocks at the rivals’ Pokemon, both Zekrom and Metagross are greatly weakened as a result.

“Darn it, there must be some way to win this battle.” Arti thinks to himself. “Zekrom, use Bolt Strike on Lairon!”

“These cheaters will not beat us, Metagross, use another Meteor Mash on Pupitar!” Bruin commands.

“Gross!” the Iron Leg Pokemon throws meteoric punches at the Hard Shell Pokemon, shattering the Tyranitar silhouette and causing great damage to Pupitar.

“Zazash!” the Deep Black Pokemon surrounds itself in electricity once again and charges directly at the Iron Shell Pokemon, forcing paralysis in the process.

“What, how did this happen?!” the foreman reacts to the situation. “How did Pupitar lose that power?”

“Sir, not to alarm you, but Lairon is paralysed.” the employee points out.

“No matter, their Pokemon are too weak to defeat us now.” the foreman responds. “Pupitar, bury our opposition under a pile of rocks with another Rock Slide, both the Pokemon and their trainers.”

“Not so fast!” Bruin counters, “Metagross, finish Pupitar off!”

“Meta!” Metagross somehow reacted faster than Pupitar, revealing that it was holding a Quick Claw all this time. Another Meteor Mash made contact with the Hard Shell Pokemon’s rocky body, defeating Pupitar.

“Lairon, use Rock Slide on the trainers, then their Pokemon.” the employee commands her Pokemon.

However, the Iron Shell Pokemon couldn’t move, the paralysis kept both its body and the Aggron silhouette locked.

“Okay Zekrom, use another Bolt Strike to hit Lairon as hard as you can!” Arti commands the Deep Black Pokemon.

“Bazazazash!” Zekrom uses Bolt Strike again, this time hitting Lairon in a critical spot, shattering the Aggron silhouette, and defeating the Iron Shell Pokemon itself.

“How could this have happened?!” the foreman reacts.

“Colton is really going to have our heads for this!” the employee worries about getting yelled at.

Zekrom growls at the group belonging to Tectonic Inc. with angry displeasure. The foreman and his group of employees took this cue to retreat, running in the opposite direction in fear of what the Deep Black Pokemon could do to them.

Zekrom didn’t pursue them, however, as it knew that Arti didn’t want to do the same thing they were going to do to him.

“Finally, those losers are out of here!” Bruin says, then tells Arti, “Now then, tell me why you managed to get a Pokemon of legend.”

“Okay, so long story short, I was tasked to save the Unova region, the restoration of the Original Dragon is part of that plan.” Arti starts explaining.

“Wait, why were you picked to be this hero? You are no hero, you’re a weakling!” Bruin responds, “Besides, the Original Dragon is long gone, there is no way you’re going to bring it back, it split into two Pokemon, and you only have one of them.”

“Do you want to hear the reason or not?” Arti asks, without waiting for an answer, he continues, “As I was saying, that’s where you’re wrong, as the Original Dragon split into three, not two, and I have two of the three Pokemon that make up a part of it.”

“How do you know that, huh?” Bruin asks, demanding for an answer.

“Because Kyurem just so happens to be a part of the Original Dragon as well, or rather, it is the Original Dragon, just in a weakened state.” Arti answers. “If Kyurem finally regains its original form, it might just be powerful enough to stop Tectonic Inc.’s most powerful Pokemon at their disposal, even if they use that weird remote.” Arti finishes explaining. “Zekrom joined me because it wants to stop the destruction of Unova.

“You have assumed correctly.” Zekrom finally talks to Arti again.

“Which parts of the explanation?” Arti asks Zekrom.

“All of them off course.” the Deep Black Pokemon responds.

“Well whatever, you can play hero all you want, I’m still not going to give up on defeating you.” Bruin disregards Arti’s explanation before retracting Metagross into its Great Ball before leaving the area.

“That friend is not an ideal friend to have.” Zekrom reacts to Bruin’s attitude.

“He’s not my friend, he is just obsessed with defeating me in battle. I’m not going to lie, he has become more annoying.” Arti corrects the Deep Black Pokemon, then sprays a Super Potion on Zekrom’s leg, “You did a great job in this battle.”

“I did not do this alone, you have commanded very well.” the Deep Black Pokemon corrects Arti.

“Great job nonetheless.” Arti praises the Deep Black Pokemon.

The sun has now disappeared into the horizon, with the first group of other stars appearing like distant lights in the sky. Arti hopes Mary comes back soon, worrying about a nocturnal wild Pokemon attacking.

“Let’s find a spot to rest for the night.” Arti gets Zekrom to follow him.

Before long, Mary comes in riding her Golurk, reaching Arti relatively fast.

“Sorry I took so long in there, I forgot to use Repels, so I was pursued by wild Pokemon every step I took.” Mary apologizes, “I heard some crashes coming from your direction, what happened?”

“I will tell you while we get closer to Tubeline Bridge and find a spot to rest for the night.” Arti promises to answer Mary’s question.

The two, alongside Zekrom and Golurk make their way across the third and final puddle, this puddle is the second-biggest puddle of the route, with a deeper part right in the middle. Having made it to the other side of it, the group picked a spot near a bed of flowers. Arti and Mary decided to let all of their other Pokemon out of their Poke Balls as everyone sat down.

“Here’s what happened, Bruin came back in order to try to defeat me, but before we could have a battle, some people from Tectonic Inc. decided to build a tremor maker here in Route 8.” Arti begins explaining.

“What happened after that?” Mary asks for the rest of the story.

“So, one of them told both of us to leave, and well, there are people who don’t like to be told what to do, Bruin is one of them. Since I simply couldn’t let Tectonic Inc. build another tremor maker, I decided to team up with Bruin to drive them off Route 8.” Arti continues explaining, then concludes, “That noise you heard was the Rock Slide their Pokemon were using.”

“Garde” Gardevoir chimes in.

“I agree with what Gardevoir has said, you should have not teamed up with Bruin.” Kyurem agrees.

“Bruin may be annoying, but Tectonic Inc. is worse. Unova’s safety comes first, personal matters can be resolved later.” Arti makes his point clear. “Besides, I now know Bruin has a Metagross without battling him, this will be useful if he decides to challenge me to a battle again.”

“Unova as the top priority… it was a long time since I had a hero like that.” the Boundary Pokemon reminisces.

“That is the ideal hero that I follow, a human who prioritizes the needs of others before his own.” Zekrom adds, further cementing its decision to follow Arti’s orders.

“Lade?” Gallade asks.

“I am also curious about what you will do now.” the Deep Black Pokemon repeats what Gallade has asked.

“Well, I’m hoping to find the Light Stone, but I just simply don’t know of its location. I will probably get a clue through my dream.” Arti responds.

“Lurk” Golurk notices that Route 8 is now shrouded in darkness, with the only light being the moon that rose up onto the starry backdrop.

“Golurk is right, it’s too late to continue going right now.” Mary says, “Let’s go to sleep and we can continue going to Opelucid City tomorrow.”

As the group set up for the night, Arti worries if he will be able to defeat Tectonic Inc. and stop their plans. Everyone fell asleep, the bigger Pokemon sometimes keeping watch of any wild Pokemon. Then everything suddenly fades away, as well as everyone but Arti himself as he sees that he is in a white void. A ring of fire surrounds him, a ring that’s taller than an Alolan Eggsecutor.

“What, where am I?” Arti asks, his voice echoing within the void as the fire intensifies, then one part splitting apart.

Arti sees what looks like a pair of blue eyes staring back at him, a calm female voice speaks to him.

“You must take the Trials of Truth.” the voice said.

“But how?” Arti asks.

“Go to the depths that suppress my power. Only then will you be able to face the trials.” the voice replies.

Before Arti could say anything further, the ring of fire dissipated and the eyes faded away into the white void, leaving him alone, only to hear Mary’s voice echoing.

“It’s time to wake up, sleepyhead.” the voice lost its echo at the end.

Arti then finds himself back on Route 8, only this time, it is the sun that’s now in place of the moon, no other stars can be seen anymore and the sky is now a bright blue. The same Pokemon that slept with him and Mary are still there, just woken up.

“Is it morning already?” Arti asks as he gets up and stretches, yawning in the process.

“It is, so I think we should get going to reach Opelucid City now.” Mary answers while she retracts her Pokemon back into their Poke Balls.

“Oh hey, I think I got a clue on where we can find the Light Stone!” Arti excitedly says as he retracts his Pokemon back into their respective Poke Balls.

“Where?” Mary asks hopefully.

“I didn’t get any specific place, but I heard a female voice tell me to go to somewhere deep, where its powers are being suppressed.” Arti explains.

“While it’s a vague lead, it’s a lead nonetheless.” Mary responds.

With that, the adventuring couple continues making their way to Opelucid City, getting ready to cross Tubeline Bridge to do so. Arti is now more ready than ever to start the search for the Light Stone, even if he doesn’t know where it is. However, he has to be more careful, as Tectonic Inc. is now using artificial ways to make Pokemon stronger.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 23: Road to the Future​

In the bright morning sunlight of Route 8, all sorts of plants and water are spread, eventually leading to something clearly not natural: a large concrete bridge that extends to a wall with a doorway. Arti and Mary pass through the doorway, finding themselves on the grated Tubeline Bridge, below the grated bridge are visible train tracks where trains make their loud presence while coming from one side and going to the other.

“Whoa!” Arti reacts to the train passing under him.

“If some loud noises are the only things that can be a distraction here, then we should be fine.” Mary tells Arti.

The adventuring couple make their way across, seemingly with nothing stopping them from their small goal to Opelucid City or their even smaller goal to Route 9.

“Huh, an easy path? I never thought I would encounter one.” Arti thinks, but then, he sees that one specific Dragonite he never wanted to see again fly above him, the one owned by his rival, the one person he did not want to see ever again. “Oh geez, him again?” he says out loud.

“Who again?” Mary asks.

“Bruin.” Arti answers, “I’m worried that he will do the same thing to you as he did to me.”

“Don’t worry about me.” Mary replies, “I will help you in any way I can.”

Before Arti could thank Mary for her help, that same Dragonite descends in front of him, carrying Bruin on its back.

“Hey loser, guess who’s back to challenge you to a battle?” Bruin says as he hops off the Dragon Pokemon’s back.

“Seriously, why don’t you just leave me alone for once?” Arti asks, starting to get annoyed at Bruin’s persistence.

“If your narrow-sighted self didn’t figure it out already, then I’m surprised you caught a legendary Pokemon in the first place.” Bruin does not hesitate to throw insults at Arti.

“Hey, leave him alone!” Mary snaps at Bruin.

“Who said you could talk?” Bruin snaps back at Mary.

“Hey take that back right now, Bruin!” Arti defends Mary, trying his best not to let his anger get the best of him.

The air is getting tense, Arti clearly does not want to battle Bruin, he’s not afraid to battle him, but simply because he wants to get to Opelucid City before sundown. However, it seems like there is no choice but to do battle.

“Or what? Will she tell her dad?” Bruin mocks Mary.

“That’s it, we battle! One-on-one, me and you!” Arti couldn’t take Bruin’s attitude toward Mary anymore.

“Hmm, just a typical one-on-one battle? Nah, a double battle sounds better.” Bruin accepts the battle but decides to change it.

“Well, since you had the audacity to change the battle, then how about this? The loser of the battle will have to go back to Lacunosa Town and stay there for a week.” Arti proposes a bet.

“Oh, that will make your defeat a lot more fun to watch, you got a deal.” Bruin accepts the bet.

“Arti, why did you make that bet knowing you could lose a week of doing your quest?” Mary asks him with concern.

“Because winning against him will allow us a week without him pestering us.” Arti answers Mary’s question and then whispers “Don’t worry, I have a backup plan if I do lose this battle.”

Dragonite laughed at Arti’s anger toward Bruin the entire time, only to get ready for a battle.

“Go Metagross, let’s make these losers waste a week of their lives!” Bruin throws out the Poke Ball containing Metagross.

“Meta” the Iron Leg Pokemon looks ready for a fight.

“Okay, Kyurem and Zekrom, work together to defeat Bruin’s Pokemon!” Arti throws out the Poke Ball containing Kyurem and the Ultra Ball containing Zekrom.

“This Dragonite again?” the Boundary Pokemon complains.

“You hate this Dragonite?” the Deep Black Pokemon asks Kyurem.

“Indeed I do, it’s despicable enough to disrespect elder Pokemon.” the Boundary Pokemon responds to Zekrom.

“All the more reason to defeat Bruin’s Pokemon.” Arti tells the two, “Okay Kyurem use Glaciate on the Dragonite, and Zekrom, use Bolt Strike on the Metagross!”

Kyurem freezes the air around Dragonite, making the chunks of ice hit the Dragon Pokemon’s torso. What surprised Arti, is that Metagross also took some damage from the Glaciate as well.

“Dra!” Dragonite feels immense pain from the cold.

Meanwhile, Zekrom surrounds itself in a sphere of cyan electricity, then charges directly at Metagross.

“Tagross?!” the Iron Leg Pokemon is surprised by how hard it just got hit after it just felt the coldness of Glaciate.

“There is no way you’re gonna win this, Arti. Dragonite, use Dragon Pulse on Zekrom, and you Metagross, use Meteor Mash on Kyurem!” Bruin commands his Pokemon to attack.

Metagross strikes Kyurem with a meteoric punch that gives the Boundary Pokemon a noticeable mark on its body. Dragonite breathes in, then launches a monstrous primal energy at Zekrom, making the Deep Black Pokemon feel a horrible burn.

“This Metagross, is going to pay for what it has done to me.” Kyurem begins getting angry at the Iron Leg Pokemon.

“This Dragonite is an enemy of ideals, it must be defeated.” Zekrom now wants the Dragon Pokemon to be defeated.

“Then let’s win this battle quickly so we can move on! Do the same strategy as before, only this time, don’t be afraid to strike as hard as possible!” Arti commands his Pokemon to use the same moves on the same Pokemon.

The Boundary Pokemon uses Glaciate once again, this time focusing on making it even colder than before, while Metagross only has resisted the effects, Dragonite can be seen trying to desperately warm itself up, to no avail. This Glaciate’s even more decreased temperature resulted in a Critical Hit on the Dragon Pokemon.

“Gonite…” Dragonite falls to the ground, unable to battle.

The Deep Black Pokemon focuses all of its strength for this Bolt Strike, then charges directly at Metagross, leaving the Iron Leg Pokemon with a shock so powerful, that it’s even electrocuted on the inside.

“Gross…” Metagross is unable to battle after receiving the worst shock yet.

“What?! How did this happen?!” Bruin is surprised by how quickly he lost the battle.

“It’s time to honor that bet, go back to Lacunosa Town.” Arti tells Bruin.

“I will go back to Lacunosa Town, but when a week has passed, I will make sure you won’t get anything done!” Bruin says as he turns the other way and heads off, passing through the doorway that Arti and Mary will go through.

“Seriously, he’s a pain in the neck.” Arti says.

“What if he sabotages your quest?” Mary asks Arti.

“I won’t let him, by the time the week is over, we are probably going to be ahead enough that he won’t be able to pull any sort of sabotage on us.” Arti reassures.

“Now I can see why you hate that Dragonite.” Zekrom tells Kyurem.

“We have a week without being followed, let’s make the most of it as much as possible.” Kyurem urges the group.

“You’re right, Kyurem.” Arti agrees as he retracts the Boundary Pokemon back into its Poke Ball, and the Deep Black Pokemon back into its Ultra Ball, placing both in his pocket.

Arti and Mary now continue their way down Tubeline Bridge eventually heading into the same doorway Bruin headed into. The adventuring couple find themselves in Route 9, the identical concrete floor leads to a paved road that temporarily expands to a tall skyscraper, then narrows to the same length it had, continuing all the way to the transition gate that leads to a futuristic-looking city slightly visible through the gate. There are also two vending machines close to the skyscraper, with a tall fence and some houses behind said vending machines. At the right of the road sits a short fence spanning all the way from the exit of Tubeline Bridge to the transition gate, with a gap to allow access to the grass where wild Pokemon can be encountered.

Aside from all the man-made things on Route 9, there is a large group of trees left of the road and close to the skyscraper as well as behind the tall fence. At the right of the road sits a collapsed cave entrance with two groups of dark grass close to it, with a group of lighter grass only separated from the other group of lighter grass by a single row of trees.

For a while, Arti doesn’t talk, as the memory of the past that he wanted to forget about forced its way back. Mary grew a little concerned, she wasn’t upset about Bruin being rude to her, because to her, Bruin is only a stranger, a rude one at that, but a stranger nonetheless. However, Mary knows how bad Arti suffered because a big part of that was Bruin. The adventuring couple quietly make their way down Route 9.

“Do you… want to do something to take your mind off him?” Mary thoughtfully asks Arti.

“I wish I could do as soon as possible, maybe you could tell me about some discoveries you have made.” Arti finally answers as he and Mary slow down. “I think that might make me feel better too.”

“Okay, I made a lot of discoveries about the ancient past of Unova, so I could tell you at least some of them.” Mary agrees, then begins to explain one of her discoveries “According to some sources, there were actually three brothers who interacted with the Original Dragon.”

“Three brothers?” Arti asks with curiosity.

“Yep, according to those sources, the middle brother was trying to stop the other two from fighting, there was even a theory that the Original Dragon actually favored the middle brother because he was always trying to find a compromise that the other two wanted. But the other two never wanted a compromise, which eventually led to the Original Dragon eventually splitting.” Mary finishes explaining.

“Did the creators of those sources know of Kyurem?” Arti asks a follow up question.

“They didn’t know of Kyurem persay, but they theorized that a third Pokemon did come from the split, the body of the dragon that still had the original consciousness.” Mary answers Arti’s question, but then smiles “Never thought that someone who would become my boyfriend would have that Pokemon by his side.”, she says with more positivity in her voice.

“Heh… um…” Arti blushes as he is speechless, but feeling much better nonetheless. “So, how about we discover more, together?” Arti asks Mary as he holds her hand.

“That would be nice.” Mary replies as she holds Arti’s hand.

The adventuring couple pick up to their usual pace, this time hand-in-hand, making their way down the road directly to the transition gate, once they arrive at the gate, the two stop there.

“Thanks for helping me feel better.” Arti says as he kisses Mary on the cheek.

“Aw, it’s nothing really.” Mary tells Arti.

“I am serious, you are there when I need someone to support me the most.” Arti says very truthfully.

“Aaa…” Mary blushes after hearing that compliment, “Let’s just go into Opelucid City, to make the best of the week.”

“You’re right, let’s get as much progress done as we can.” Arti agrees.

The adventuring couple head inside the gate, they then find themselves in a city that has a very techno atmosphere, most of Opelucid City is lit up by cyan-colored light, there are some rows of trees near the gates, and some bushes surrounding the statue as well as marking the entrance to the middlemost building in the city. The road has three splits that lead to not only the aforementioned building as well as the house on its right, but also to the fence northeast of the city that now blocks the way to Route 10. The rest of the road makes a big square, on the southeast lies two vending machines, near the gate from Route 9 sits a house that much like the other buildings in the city has strips of cyan light. Further north sits the Opelucid Gym, which has a doorway under a giant spike, with two dragon head sculptures adorning the left and right of the gym. Right beside the gym are two houses to the right. In the southeast sits the Pokemon Center.

Let’s visit the Pokemon Center before we talk to Drayden. Kyurem and Zekrom fought a hard battle.” Arti suggests the first place to go to.

“Then let’s start with that.” Mary agrees.

After the adventuring couple makes a quick trip to the Pokemon Center, Arti now has his Pokemon completely healed and he and Mary decide to explore around to see where they can find Drayden.

“If we can’t find him outside, then he must be in the Pokemon Gym.” Arti makes a suggestion.

“I forgot for a second that he is a Gym Leader. There are people who told me Iris was the Gym Leader here, but last I checked, she was never the Gym Leader of the Opelucid Gym.” Mary recalls.

Nevertheless the adventuring couple head to the Pokemon Gym, only to find its doorway guarded by a gym guide.

“Uh hey, can we talk to Drayden?” Arti asks the gym guide.

“He is not accepting challenges right now, if you’re here to challenge him to a battle that is.” the gym guide responds. Then realizes, “Hey wait, you look like that boy who has the legendary Pokemon Kyurem.”

“I actually am him.” Arti admits.

“Then, in that case, you must speak with Drayden right now. He’s currently inside his house, right in the middle of the city, you can’t miss it.” the gym guide answers.

With that Arti and Mary head to Drayden’s house, hoping to get some answers about the whereabouts of the Light Stone. It turns out it was the house of the bushes, Arti knocks on the cyan-colored door. Inside, some grunting, growling, and roaring noises could be heard inside. A few seconds later, the door opens circularly from its center.

An old man whose body doesn’t match his age makes an appearance, he wears a white shirt with a gem on the collar and two black strips reaching down to his gray-colored pants, and he wears plum-colored shoes. His hair, eyebrows, and beard are all white. His beard, which resembles a dragon’s lower jaw, noticeably covers his mouth. A Druddigon and a Haxorus appear at the opposite sides of the doorway.

“You finally arrived.” the old man says.

“Wait, are you Drayden?” Mary asks.

“Yes, my name is Drayden.” Drayden answers the question.

“Since we are introducing ourselves, my name is Arti.” Arti introduces himself.

“And I am Mary, nice to meet you.” Mary introduces herself.

“Anyways, I have been meaning to talk to you, Drayden.” Arti tells the Gym Leader.

“I also needed to speak with you, Arti.” Drayden responds. “Come in so we can talk.”

Arti and Mary head inside Drayden’s house to see if they can find anything about the Light Stone.

“Arti, I need to know if you do have the legendary Pokemon Kyurem.” Drayden starts the conversation.

“Yes I do have, I can let it out right now.” Arti says as he opens the Poke Ball containing Kyurem.

“So Kyurem does exist.” Drayden takes a look at the Boundary Pokemon. “So the stories about there being a husk of the Original Dragon were proven true."

“Yup, I also have caught Zekrom as well.” Arti brings up his recently caught legendary Pokemon.

“Do you have proof that you really did catch Zekrom?” Drayden asks.

“As a matter of fact, yes.” Arti answers as he retracts Kyurem back into its Poke Ball as he now lets Zekrom out of its Ultra Ball.

“How did you find the Dark Stone? Lenora was keeping it hidden.” Drayden remembers.

“Well, this might sound weird to say out loud, but the Dark Stone, or rather Zekrom spoke to me in my dream. It seems like Zekrom wanted to join me in my efforts to stop Tectonic Inc. from destroying Unova.” Arti explains. “And now I’m trying to find the Light Stone, because it too spoke to me in a dream.”

“So you’re looking for all the pieces of the Original Dragon.” Drayden assumes Arti’s plan.

“You’re right, I am. Tectonic Inc. started using any means to make their Pokemon a lot stronger than previously thought possible, and the Original Dragon might just be the Pokemon who can defeat them.” Arti agrees and then explains after he retracts Zekrom back into its Ultra Ball.

“Then, in that case, you will also need the DNA Splicers.” Drayden tells Arti.

“The DNA Splicers?” Arti asks, curious to know.

“The DNA Splicers has been theorized to have been part of the Original Dragon. This was proven true when the last trainer who caught both Kyurem and Zekrom a few years ago told me of the DNA Splicers allowing the two Pokemon to fuse together.” Drayden recalls something from a few years ago. “He has returned it to me after defeating Team Plasma.”

“Huh, this was easier than I thought.” Arti responds.

“However, before can I give you the DNA Splicers, there is something I need you to do.” Drayden decides to give Arti a task.

“What do I need to do?” Arti asks.

“You will have to earn the DNA Splicers by catching Reshiram and showing it to me.” Drayden talks about the task.

“Well, I am looking for the Light Stone right now, so yes, I will catch Reshiram.” Arti decides then asks, “Anyways, do you know where the Light Stone went?”

“I do not know the whereabouts of the Light Stone, but if I find out about its location, I will send one of my Pokemon to guide you to it.” Drayden decides to help the best he can.

“Thanks so much!” Arti responds.

As usual, Mary was noting down everything that went on during the conversation.

After a farewell, Arti and Mary get out of Drayden’s house to decide where to go next.

“Well, discovering about the DNA Splicers sure was something.” Mary tells Arti.

“Yeah, if it can fuse Kyurem with Zekrom, then I think it can also fuse Kyurem with Reshiram as well.” Arti comes up with a conclusion. “But I remember Kyurem telling me a crucial part.”

“Which is that?” Mary asks.

“That if what Kyurem says about the God Stone’s existence is true, then I’m starting to believe that the DNA Splicers can only fuse Kyurem with Zekrom or Reshiram, but not both.” Arti answers.

“That’s actually believable.” Mary reacts as she notes down.

“We will see if this is actually true once we get the DNA Splicers. But I think that only the God Stone might have enough power to allow Kyurem a second fusion without needing to be separated first.” Arti concludes.

While the adventuring couple takes this opportunity to see more of Opelucid City, Mary gets an idea after some minutes pass.

“I have an idea, let's go back to my villa to relax for a little bit!” Mary suggests.

“That’s actually a good idea! I could use a breather from the quest.” Arti accepts.

Mary sends out Golurk while Arti sends out Zekrom, they both get onto the respective Pokemon’s back.

“Take me to Undella Town.” Mary tells Golurk.

“Lurrk.” the Automaton Pokemon starts hovering, then turns to the direction of Undella Town.

“Zekrom, follow that Golurk.” Arti commands Zekrom.

“As you wish.” the Deep Black Pokemon starts to follow Mary’s Golurk.

As the adventuring couple is being taken back to Undella Town, Arti and Mary know that the DNA Splicers will be needed for the restoration of the Original Dragon. With Bruin taking a one-week timeout in Lacunosa Town, Arti hopes to use the time to at least do all of the Light Stone’s Trials of Truth… once he actually finds the Light Stone itself.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 24: More Heat, More Bubbles​

Undella Town is bathed in the afternoon glow from the sky and gentle breeze coming from the wide blue expanse from which Water-type Pokemon call home. Arti and Mary are inside Mary’s villa, taking a much-needed nap together in a queen-sized bed.

Arti has another dream or rather, a nightmare, this time, he’s in the middle of what looks like a battlefield, arrows fly to and fro left and right, sounds of steel sword blades hitting one another, and the occasional launching of rocks fill the sky. When he turns around, he sees an arrow fly directly at him at a similar speed to that of a Manectric chasing its prey.

“Ahh!” Arti wakes up yelling, sweat rolling down his face.

“Ah! What happened?!” Mary wakes up in surprise.

“Oh sorry, I just had a nightmare.” Arti tells Mary.

“It’s okay.” Mary responds to Arti. “What happened in there?”

“Well, it was weirdly specific. There was a battle, not a Pokemon battle, but a battle between two human armies using swords and arrows.” Arti explains. “It just so happens one of the arrows was shot right in my direction.”

“At least it was just a dream, so you’re okay.” Mary comforts Arti. “Do you want to go back to sleep?”

“I don’t think I’m tired anymore, so I think I should get a move on to find the Light Stone.” Arti says as he gets up and puts his shoes back on.

“You’re right, we should resume our search for it before the week is over.” Mary agrees as she also gets up and puts her shoes on.

The adventuring couple head out of the room and start gathering their things, this is when they see a helicopter hover in circles over the water. Upon closer inspection, this helicopter seems to belong to a news channel.

“I think we should check the news, maybe they might show a clue.” Mary guesses as she turns the TV on.

The image on the screen is constantly panning, showing what looks like water bubbling from a specific spot in the sea. That spot just so happens to be the same spot in which the Abyssal Ruins is located.

“...some experts say that this unprecedented heat is related to the recent tremors. Worries continue to arise as to how much damage will this bring further due to Tectonic Inc.’s actions.” the newsman continues saying.

“Oh jeez, it’s starting to affect the bottom of the sea too?” Arti asks.

“But I don’t see any glowing cracks on the seafloor, which is strange. I’m starting to think those bubbles are coming from the Abyssal Ruins itself.” Mary explains what she thinks.

“Oh wait! Remember when the voice in my previous dream told me to look for the Light Stone in a place where its power is suppressed? Water-types resist Fire-type moves.” Arti puts together a theory.

“Are you suggesting that the Light Stone ended up inside the Abyssal Ruins?” Mary asks.

“Yes, I am. The only other place it could be would be somewhere deep underground where it had to be dug up.” Arti answers, then asks. “Do you have any diving equipment I could borrow?”

“I have a few, I can teach you how to dive.” Mary offers.

“That’s great! I’m going inside the Abyssal Ruins to see if the Light Stone is in there.” Arti accepts while explaining his reason.

“Let me come with you, I want to make sure you can be safe.” Mary offers to come.

“Yeah, let’s actually go together.” Arti accepts Mary’s offer.

“The Abyssal Ruins is in a spot that creates torrents, this is why there are no wild Pokemon in there.” Mary explains, “However, someone already opened the way to the center, from what I have seen when diving last time, so I can guide you to the center. That means every relic that was in there was taken, so there won’t be any distractions either.”

Mary opens a door near the back of the villa and goes inside, after a few minutes she comes out of the door to bring a set of diving equipment to Arti, then goes back to retrieve another set. She comes back with an identical-looking set.

“I’m going to go get changed, let me know if I need anything else.” Arti says as he grabs the flippers and heads back into the bedroom.

Arti comes back out of the bedroom wearing his swimming shorts which are green and yellow, then dons the air tanks on his back and the flippers to his feet. He waits until he’s at the water to put the mask on, which has a tube connecting it to the air tanks on his back.

“One important detail to remember, don’t hold your breath if air starts to leak out of the tank as you’re going back to the surface, the change in pressure will do terrible things to your lungs if you do hold your breath.” Mary warns of the danger before going back into the bedroom to change.

Mary comes back out of the bedroom wearing her two-piece pink swimsuit, with air tanks strapped to her back, and donning the flippers on her feet. She waits to put on the mask until she’s at the water. The mask itself has a tube connecting it to the air tanks on her back.

“Oh, one more thing!” Arti remembers to bring the Poke Ball containing Kyurem and the Ultra Ball containing Zekrom. “Just in case one of us can’t get to the surface in time.”

“That’s a smart move.” Mary reacts.

Mary locks the door to her villa as Arti sends out both the Boundary Pokemon and the Deep Black Pokemon.

“Okay, you two will be in charge of getting us out of the water if we can’t reach the surface in time. And remember, don’t fight each other.” Arti tells the two Pokemon.

“We will do as you wish.” Zekrom says.

“However, we will not get into the water, our powers will affect you if we did.” Kyurem points out.

“Okay, we will see you two when we are done with our expedition inside the Abyssal Ruins.” Mary tells the two.

The helicopter has since left. The adventuring couple dons their masks and dives deep into the sea, Mary at the front holding Arti’s hand. In their line of sight, there are Mantyke and Remoraid alike swimming about, with the occasional Jellicent and Seel also making their presence. Eventually, the Abyssal Ruins comes into view, a stone structure that’s buried beneath the sands of the seafloor. The main entrance with stairs and a doorway along with a few other parts around jut out of the sand. There are carvings that decorate every part of the structure.

“There it is, the Abyssal Ruins. This place theories say is a tomb for a king from a long time ago.” Mary talks about the Abyssal Ruins’s history, her voice being muffled by the mask.

“Was this king one of the two brothers?” Arti asks, also having his voice muffled by the mask.

“There are many theories as to who that king was, but the most common theory is that he is related to the two brothers in some way.” Mary explains to Arti.

The adventuring couple swims ever closer to the theoretical tomb, and then they stop once they are right by the entrance.

“I’m ready to go inside and see if the Light Stone is in there!” Arti excitedly says.

“Remember, we won’t be able to be in there forever, the torrent will force us out after swimming for a certain distance. It’s not from reaching a specific place, but this means that we have to pick the directions wisely or we will have to start again.” Mary explains what to do. “Keep holding my hand so I can guide you to the center, the Abyssal Ruins is a maze and a wrong turn will mean less time for us to be able to go deeper.”

Mary starts guiding Arti to the center of the room, reaching the wall ahead, but not swimming entirely to that wall, instead turning left and continuing a little bit, then turning left, then right, and then right again.

“The water here is strangely warm.” Arti points out as he is guided by hand.

“If the Light Stone really is here, then I expect for the water to become warmer as we get deeper.” Mary responds to Arti as she keeps holding his hand.

While they talked, the adventuring couple turned right again and then left with another right turn after it. Another right turn followed by two left turns, another right turn, and finally, the final left turn that leads to the center of the room, where a wall of a different color looks like it slid to reveal a hole that leads to the next floor of the ruins. However, a rumble shook the monument.

“Not another tremor!” Arti reacts.

“Calm down, it’s not a tremor, it’s the torrent I told you about, we are okay.” Mary responds to Arti.

As they swam through the hole, the adventuring couple noticed the water becoming hotter, the number of bubbles increased as heat attempted an escape from the stony maze of the ruins. Mary guides Arti south of the center of the now smaller floor, turning left at the second opportunity, and then turning left again around the first visible corner.

“I have never seen this many bubbles in here before, and the water is unusually warmer here.” Mary notices the change.

“This only supports my suggestion that the Light Stone is here somewhere, I bet the water is the hottest where the Light Stone is at!” Arti sees hope in finding the Light Stone here.

As Arti and Mary talked, they swam up north, then turned right at the second visible corner, then left, with another left after reaching the northern wall, with one final left into a corridor, finishing with a right turn where they saw a hole spewing bubbles right before the fork. They swam into the hole, noticing the water now being hot instead of warm and the bubbles increasing in quantity.

“Okay, there are too many bubbles here for this to just be easily brushed off, and the water is so hot that it can be almost comparable to a hot spring.” Mary points out, still holding Arti’s hand.

“All the more reasons to continue onward.” Arti responds, still holding onto Mary’s hand.

The adventuring couple swims, starting by turning left on the second visible corner, then right the the first corner they see, then another right around the second corner, then continuing until turning left around the second corner they see. What meets their sight is the intensity of bubbles being the highest coming from the hole that they see.

“This leads to the final accessible floor, this is where the water temperature increases again.” Mary tells Arti.

“Then this means we are close to the moment of truth, let’s check it out.” Arti says to Mary.

As the adventuring couple swam into the hole, the Abyssal Ruins rumbled again, this time with more intensity as they made their way to the final floor.

“We are starting to run out time.” Mary points out.

“Then let’s see the source of this heat before we do run out of time.” Arti stays focused.

Once Arti and Mary made it to the final floor, a much smaller room entered their view, the room is not a maze, but rather a big open space with jutted-out walls of a different color than the walls that are behind them, the temperature is the hottest here, even hotter than hot springs. Closer to the northern-central colored wall lies the source of the heat and bubbles, the Light Stone itself, which spews lots of trapped heat inside of bubbles.

“There it is! Let’s go grab it before a torrent forces us out.” Arti becomes excited, letting go of Mary’s hand and swimming directly to the Light Stone.

“Wait, we have-” Mary tries to tell Arti, but is cut off by the torrent.

“I’m not going to leave here without the Light Stone.” Arti commits to getting the Light Stone no matter what.

Arti finally gets close enough to the Light Stone to grab it, but the Abyssal Ruins shakes one more time, with the harshest shaking yet, the torrent starts pulling him and Mary out of the Abyssal Ruins.

“Uhn, uhn… gotcha!” Arti barely managed to grab the Light Stone, holding on to the white rock like everything depended on it.

Mary finds herself to the surface first, surprisingly unscathed save for a few scratches on the air tank, she swims back to where Zekrom and Kyurem are waiting.

“Where is Arti?” the Boundary Pokemon asks.

“I think he’s still inside.” Mary answers as she makes it to land and takes the mask, air tanks, and flippers off.

“I will take a look.” the Deep Black Pokemon starts hovering, looking through the surface of the water.

Meanwhile, Arti is crashing into the walls of the Abyssal Ruins as he’s forced out by the torrent, one of the air tanks has been punctured, with a puncture on the other closely following.

“Ah!” Arti takes off the mask in a panic, now with no choice but to breathe out.

Before things could get even worse, a black, three-fingered winged hand grabs Arti. Zekrom then brings Arti to land, the mask hanging onto the air tanks thanks to the tube. Arti wastes no time taking off the air tanks and the flippers. But he passes out, still with the Light Stone in his hand.

“Oh no… no no no!” Mary starts panicking, sitting down to the sand and placing Arti’s head onto her lap. “Please wake up!”

A few minutes pass until he starts opening his eyes.

“Ugh, that was the worst way to be forced out I have ever experienced.” Arti says as he opens his eyes.

“You’re okay!” Mary is relieved and then hugs Arti’s head.

“I’m never going into the Abyssal Ruins again.” Arti says, then continues “But on the bright side, we finally got the Light Stone!”

Mary lets go of Arti as the two get up.

“You look like you were attacked in there.” Kyurem sees that Arti has a few bruises.

“The torrent forced me to crash into every wall on the way out.” Arti responds.

“Take some time to heal, but tomorrow, I expect you to start the Trials of Truth.” the Boundary Pokemon gives the task.

“That’s fine with me, now let’s relax for the rest of the day.” Arti accepts.

The rest of the Pokemon are let out of their Poke Balls after Arti and Mary retrieve them from inside the villa. Neither Arti nor Mary changed out of their swimwear to enjoy a rare day on the beach.

The Pokemon also enjoyed the day, Gallade and Gardevoir splashed water on one another playfully, it seems that a crush between the two Pokemon is developing. Kling is having fun making marks in the sand as Golurk tries to make a Golett out of sand. Krookodile is burrowing circles around Klink and Golurk as part of a practical joke. Zekrom and Kyurem take the time to try to be friends.

“We don’t have to see each other as enemies because of our differences.” Kyurem says. “I’m thinking we could be friends instead.”

“Hmm, you may be right about this, if we are to become one again, then we shouldn’t be in a conflict. Then we will become friends.” Zekrom responds to Kyurem’s offer, accepting it.

“Well, then from this day onward, we are friends.” Kyurem makes a final decision.

Time seemed to pass by quickly as the sun sank down into the horizon. Arti knows that he will start the Trials of Truth, but while he doesn’t know what to do, he knows Kyurem will tell him in due time. Arti is more confident than ever that he will be successful in these trials.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 25: The Dormant Volcano​

Undella Town is bathed in morning light, which penetrates through the windows of the villas. Arti and Mary woke up due to the light filtering through the glass panes of the bedroom they were sleeping in. Arti is the first to get up as he yawns right after, Mary is second to get up as she yawns as well.

“Good morning. I’m going to go check on our Pokemon outside.” Arti says as he heads into the closet to change into his usual shirt, shorts, and shoes before heading out the door of the bedroom.

“Okay, I will make breakfast for everyone in the meantime. Good morning.” Mary says as she heads into the closet to change into her dress and shoes after Arti changes clothes.

As Arti heads out the door, he grabs his backpack and dons it on his back, then heads outside to check on the Pokemon. Gallade and Gardevoir seem to just be waking up after sleeping together, Klink just started spinning its gears while Golurk seems to have slept standing up and is just waking up now as its glow returns. Krookodile emerged out of the sand. Zekrom and Kyurem took turns guarding the villa, both seem to be well-rested, however.

“Good morning everyone, ready to continue the adventure?” Arti asks the Pokemon.

“Krook!” the Desert Croc Pokemon answers excitedly.

“I can speak for everyone here that we are ready to continue.” the Deep Black Pokemon says what the other Pokemon answers.

“That’s great. Mary is preparing breakfast for everyone, so while she does that, I want to ask something.” Arti responds.

“Ask what you need.” the Boundary Pokemon says to Arti.

“So Kyurem, where is the first Trial of Truth? I need to know so I can get to it today.” Arti asks and gives his reason.

“You will need to go into Reversal Mountain. I would have said that would be easier said than done, but one of the entrances is actually right here in Undella Town.” Kyurem answers.

“Wait, really?! That’s perfect, it means that we can get to it as soon as we finish breakfast.” Arti says very excitedly.

“Before we go inside, you must know what you need to do once inside of Reversal Mountain. You must go to the very center of it, the Light Stone craves heat and the very center of Reversal Mountain is the only place in Unova that has the heat that it wants.” the Boundary Pokemon explains what must be done.

“That seems simple enough.” Arti responds.

Little does Arti know that Reversal Mountain is a prime spot to create tremors, as it’s a volcano after all. A dormant volcano to be sure, but one in which an opportunistic group like Tectonic Inc. will not hesitate to abuse its powers to do what they want.

“Gal!” Gallade seems ready to face anyone who would try to interfere with the trial.

“Krook!” Krookodile agrees with the Blade Pokemon, as it too is ready to stop any intervention.

“Thank you, I will probably need your help to deal with Tectonic Inc. if they show up in there.” Arti tells the two Pokemon.

After the talk, Mary appeared at the front doorway of her villa.

“Hey Gardevoir, can you help me bring the food outside?” Mary asks the Embrace Pokemon.

“Garde!” Gardevoir excitedly accepts to help and follows Mary back inside the villa.

“Hey Kyurem, I hope you don’t mind me asking. How are you going to be able to eat? Your jaws-” Arti starts asking Kyurem, but gets interrupted by the Boundary Pokemon.

“Are frozen shut, I know. But I found a way to eat without needing to open my jaws. When you have your jaws unable to open for years, you eventually learn to eat without opening them.” Kyurem interrupts Arti with an answer and an explanation. “But this doesn’t mean that Lacunosa Town hoax is true.”

“I know, I was just concerned is all.” Arti responds.

“I know you were. To be honest I wish I could be one step closer to being whole again so I could at least eat normally.” the Boundary Pokemon says.

After some more talking, Mary and Gardevoir managed to bring breakfast to everyone in one go.

“Breakfast time!” Mary excitedly says.

Everyone eats with excitement, Kyurem manages to open its mouth just enough to be able to get the food inside and chew it only using its upper teeth. After everyone finished with their breakfast, Mary and Gardevoir bring the discardable plates and cups and plastic silverware to a spot designated for feeding Trubbish and Garbodor that come sometimes.

“Now that we ate, how about we venture into Reversal Mountain?” Arti asks everyone.

“I always wanted to do that, let’s do it!” Mary answers excitedly.

“Wherever your ideals take you, I will follow.” Zekrom responds to Arti’s question.

“To stop anyone from intervening with the trial, I am willing to provide help where I can.” Kyurem confirms its commitment to helping Arti.

All the other Pokemon cheer excitedly as they are always happy to go into adventures.

“I’m just curious, why Reversal Mountain?” Mary asks.

“Because that is where the first Trial of Truth will be taking place.” Kyurem answers.

“Then, in that case, let’s go venture to the center of it!” Mary gets excited.

“Before we go in, the one taking on the Trials of Truth will need to hold the Light Stone, as it will need to know that it really is in the place that it wants to go to.” the Boundary Pokemon gives one last explanation about the trial.

Without any further delays, Arti and Mary redraw their Pokemon inside their respective Poke Balls. Arti then takes the Light Stone from his backpack to hold. After some last minute preparations, the adventuring couple walk toward the rocky west of Undella Town, carefully make their way down the slope and enter the cave mouth. As soon as they went in, a warmth suddenly greeted their skins and the chances of sweating began to increase as the temperature seemed to be warmer than even the temperature outside.

“Warmer or not, I will make sure to get to the center of this mountain.” Arti affirms his decision.

“Plus, I would like to see the place in which Heatran appeared a few years ago.” Mary responds, also wanting to go the the center of Reversal Mountain.

Arti and Mary see themselves in a cavern part that is strangely straightforward, save for stalagmites dotting the walls without pattern and a few more stalagmites jutting out of the uneven stony floor. Two stains climb to another cave mouth at the top. They begin their climb and manage to get to the cave mouth without complications, save for Arti holding the Light Stone in his hand.

However, as they went through the cave mouth, something that definitely disrupts the trial made itself known to their eyes, people from Tectonic Inc., complete with equipment to build another tremor maker. Worse yet, the CEO of Tectonic Inc., Colton is overseeing the project, he might have found out about the foreman’s failure to claim Route 8 as a spot for a tremor maker. Colton makes his way over to Arti and Mary, seeing the one who keeps intervening his company from its projects.

“It seems we meet again.” Colton says, with a slight disgust in his voice due to seeing Arti again.

“Whatever you’re doing here, stop.” Arti responds as calmly as he can.

“Hm, and why should I? A volcano is a great place to build something that creates energy from two tectonic plates rubbing together, the magma already softens the plates for us.” Colton explains, which doubles as his reason not to stop.

“You don’t understand, this has the potential to destroy so much.” Mary tells Colton.

“Yes, but those can be replaced, can they not?” Colton asks.

“No, they cannot be replaced.” Arti answers, trying his best not to initiate a battle.

“Enough! If you insist in getting in my way, then meet me down at the mountain’s center. We will battle to see who has to leave and who gets to stay. When I win, because I will win, you will have to leave Reversal Mountain forever, no second chances and my company will get to continue the project.” Colton decided to challenge Arti to a battle.

“Fine, but if I win, you and your goons have to leave as soon as you lose the battle, taking everything you brought inside back with you.” Arti accepts the challenge.

Colton goes deeper into Reversal Mountain, leaving Arti and Mary behind.

“I don’t know if we are going to be able to win this, Arti.” Mary worries.

“I still have to try, someone needs to stand up to these people to show that they can’t just cause destruction to the entire region.” Arti affirms his commitment to battle Colton.

“Then I will support you if you need my help.” Mary accepts Arti’s response.

The adventuring couple starts going deeper into the warm, stony cavern, ignoring the first two left turns they see in front of them, unsurprisingly it wasn’t long until some lesser Tectonic Inc. employees decided to get in front of the couple, intending to stop them from reaching Colton.

“Our boss may have decided to let you battle him, but that doesn’t mean we will let you get to him.” the male employee says.

“Even if you win against us, we still weakened your Pokemon.” the female employee tells the couple.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Arti tells the two, then asks Mary “Hey Mary, are you ready for a Multi Battle?”

“Yes, I am! Let's defeat these two!” Mary responds to Arti.

Without another word, all four trainers send out their Pokemon. The male employee sends out a Larvitar while the female employee sends out a Geodude. Arti sends out Gallade while Mary sends out Gardevoir.

The battle starts as Arti tells Gallade to use Psycho Cut on the Geodude while Mary tells Gardevoir to use Dazzling Gleam, which hits both Larvitar and Geodude. Both of the Rock-type/Ground-type Pokemon already fainted before their trainers could command them due to the Psychic-type Pokemon’s strong moves.

“What the?” the female employee reacts to the quick battle.

“How did we not know you had strong Pokemon?” the male employee asks.

Both of them begrudgingly hand out Pokedollars to Arti and Mary and return to work. The adventuring couple continue their way inside Reversal Mountain, taking in the surroundings where water dropplets fills the crevices of stone while ignoring the third left turn. Arti and Mary make it to the other cave mouth on the other side, but they don’t go inside of it. Instead they finally turn left and head down south.

“Stop right there!” a female voice shouts from the darkness which made Arti and Mary stop before they could go further.

“Ugh, what now?” Arti reacts, clearly getting tired of having Tectonic Inc. getting in the way of the trial.

“This is private property, leave before I make you do so!” the source of the voice made herself known, yet another Tectonic Inc. employee.

“Arti, you can go deeper without me.” Mary offers.

“Are you going to be okay?” Arti asks Mary.

“Off course! Now keep going before any more members of Tectonic Inc. try to interfere with the Trial of Truth.” Mary answers.

Arti nods and continues toward the south, leaving Mary to battle the woman who tried to force both of them out of the mountain.

“I’m not going to let you interfere.” Mary affirms, clearly ready to battle.

“Very well.” the employee reacts.

Arti keeps heading south, ignoring the first two left turns while he hears the sounds of a Pokemon battle happening behind him. He hopes to not only finish the Trial of Truth, but to also expel Tectonic Inc. from Reversal Mountain. He reaches another cave mouth at the end, but does not go inside after he sees a little bit of sunlight leaking in. Instead, he turns left, hoping that there won’t be another intervention before he makes it to the core and battle Colton to expel him and the other members of Tectonic Inc.

“Seriously, who is crazy enough to build something that causes earthquakes right in the core of a dormant volcano?” Arti thinks as he pays no mind to the sweat running down his face. “Doing that is asking for trouble!”

Arti stops in his tracks to take a moment to not only get ready for the battle, but to also check how the Light Stone is doing. Looking at the shiny white rock in his left hand, he feels it shaking a little, could it be from rage? If so, it must be from Tectonic Inc., Arti remembers the story that Reshiram and Zekrom once destroyed two entire kingdoms because their rulers turned to greed and hungered for power. However, he doubts the credibility of this story, just as he doubts the credibility of the Lacunosa Town legend about Kyurem. Before long, Mary arrives, also tired and having sweat running down her face.

“Sorry I took long, she had five Pokemon I had to deal with.” Mary apologizes to Arti.

“It’s okay, I decided to stop for a minute to get my Pokemon ready for battle against tough Pokemon.” Arti responds to Mary.

The adventuring couple resumed their trek, making their way toward the midde while ignoring the Tectonic Inc. employees chipping away at the damp, warm, stony walls. They both know that to battle every single one of them would tire their Pokemon out too early, Arti needs his Pokemon to be in fighting condition to battle and defeat Colton. Arti and Mary took the first left turn they see and made their way down the stairs, finally reaching the core of the dormant volcano where it’s even warmer despite water droplets still falling from the dark, stony ceiling. Both stalagmites and stalagtites occasionally dot the tighter spaces in the walls.

“I’m surprised you decided to pursue me.” Colton says, his voice being slightly threatening. “Any sensible person would’ve turned around and left, but you might not be sensible considering you interfered with our projects.”

“I simply can’t let you cause destruction where people and Pokemon live. It’s my duty to stop those who will try to cause them.” Arti replies, standing his ground.

“You really are a brave one, aren’t you?” Colton asks a rhetorical question. “Tell me, do you really have legendary Pokemon helping you? That’s what my employees who had an encounter with you say to me.”

“Yes, I do have legendary Pokemon by my side, and they hate the idea of Unova being destroyed.” Arti responds.

“I see. But in the end, it won’t matter if Unova is destroyed when land can just be replaced.” Colton says something that now has angered Arti.

“What?! That is simply not true, once a chunk of the land is gone, it’s gone for a long time! What you’re doing is unacceptable, just stop!” Arti demands.

“You really don’t know who you are talking to, do you? Are you really willing to make enemies with someone powerful such as myself all to protect a piece of land?” Colton asks a tough question to try to distract Arti from his goals.

“If it’s unavoidable, then I have to.” Arti stands his ground, not budging an inch from his position.

“Then I guess I have no choice but to eliminate you. However, I’m not going to use my full force against you since I doubt you will survive this either way.” Colton responds as he takes a gold encased Poke Ball out of his pocket.

“Enough talk, let’s battle!” Arti says as he takes the Poke Ball containing Krookodile out of his pocket.

The battle starts as Arti sends out Krookodile and Colton sends out a Steelix.

“Krook!” the Intimidation Pokemon snarls.

“Liiixxx.” the Iron Snake Pokemon snarls back.

“Look at that, looks like our Pokemon already hate one another.” Colton points out, laughing, “No matter, your Krookodile will regret facing my Steelix.”

Arti stays determined to defeat Colton, although Steelix isn’t a Pokemon that’s common for him to see in battles.

“Krookodile, use Dig!” Arti tells the Intimidation Pokemon.

“Steelix, pummel that Krookodile with Iron Head.” Colton commands the Iron Snake Pokemon.

Steelix tried to strike Krookodile with its head, but the Intimidation Pokemon burrowed underground before the Iron Snake Pokemon could land a hit on it. Then before long, Krookodile slammed its jaw at Steelix.

“Steel.” the Iron Snake Pokemon flinches from the move as if it took a major hit, but surprisingly, the move didn’t deal as much damage.

“What?!” Arti exclaims despite the super effective hit, “But I thought Steel-type Pokemon took more damage from Ground-type attacks!”

“You are such a fool.” Colton harshly criticizes Arti, still keeping his calm demeanor.

“Krookodile, use Dig again!” Arti confidently tells the Intimidation Pokemon.

“An Iron Tail is in order, Steelix.” Colton commands the Iron Snake Pokemon.

But before Krookodile could burrow into the ground again, Steelix swung its tail directly at the Intimidation Pokemon, knocking it at one of the rocky walls.

“Krooook!” the Krookodile growls angrily at the Iron Snake Pokemon before burrowing underground again.

Before long, the Intimidation Pokemon strikes Steelix again, this time where it hurts more, resulting in a critical hit. Although that weakened the Iron Snake Pokemon a lot, it still wasn’t enough to knock it out.

“Use Foul Play, Krookodile!” Arti says to the Intimidation Pokemon.

“Krook!” Krookodile got up close to Steelix’s face, making the Iron Snake Pokemon to hit itself, that still wasn’t enough to knock it out.

“Finish off that Krookodile with Earthquake.” Colton commands the Iron Snake Pokemon.

Steelix burrowed underground, causing tremors around the Intimidation Pokemon, some small pieces of rock fall on Krookodile, enough to knock it out.

Arti is starting to panic now, this is the first Pokemon Colton sent out and it remained standing despite two super effective hits in a row plus an attack that uses the foe’s strength against itself. After thinking about the next Pokemon to send out, he decides as he retracts Krookodile back into its Poke Ball.

“You’re up Gallade!” Arti sends out the Blade Pokemon.

“Lade!” Gallade promises to defeat whichever Pokemon it faces.

Before Arti could tell Gallade to use a move, the Blade Pokemon used Close Combat on Steelix, the blades on Gallade’s arms finally putting a dent into the Iron Snake Pokemon, however that took a lot of energy, which caused the Blade Pokemon’s defenses to weaken.

Steelix also doesn’t wait to listen to commands and goes right to using Iron Tail, it pounds Gallade into the ground, not only due to the weakened defenses, but also due to the hit being a critical hit too. However, the Blade Pokemon seemed to barely hang on, it sees now that any hit will knock Steelix out.

“Gallade, use Psycho Cut.” Arti tells the Blade Pokemon, wanting the Iron Snake Pokemon to be knocked out.

Gallade nods as its blades glow purple and strikes at Steelix, finally knocking it out.

“Well, you certainly have determination, too bad that was only my first Pokemon.” Colton says to Arti in a slightly mocking tone. Colton actually only has two Pokemon on him, but he won’t reveal that to his opponent so that he can use the suspense to force Arti to give up.

“If I were you, I would give up now.” Colton says as he retracts Steelix back into its Poke Ball, clearly trying to make Arti give up.

“No, I’m not giving up.” Arti doesn’t budge again despite Krookodile already being knocked out and Gallade being really close to being knocked out.

“Then you are still a fool.” Colton says before taking out another golden Poke Ball and sending out a Tyranitar.

“Tyran.” the Armor Pokemon laughs as a sandstorm starts.

“Gallade, I ne-” Arti was going to use a Hyper Potion on the Blade Pokemon before being interrupted by it.

“Gal…” Gallade is willing to allow itself to be knocked out so Kyurem and Zekrom can deal major damage to the Tyranitar.

“Are you sure about this?” Arti asks, concerned.

The Blade Pokemon nods about its decision to sacrifice itself for the battle to be won.

“Alright… use Close Combat then.” Arti says to Gallade, his voice clearly showing concern for the Blade Pokemon.

Gallade used Close Combat at Tyranitar.

“Tar!” the Armor Pokemon suffers sizeable damage.

“Finish this Gallade off with Stone Edge.” Colton commands Tyranitar.

The Armor Pokemon digs up sharp stones with its tail and uses them as weapons against the Blade Pokemon. This actually wasn’t enough to knock Gallade out, but the sandstorm finished it off.

Arti retracted the Blade Pokemon, he’s now forced to use legendary Pokemon to win the battle, he carefully chooses between Zekrom or Kyurem on which to send out next. However, before he could choose, the Poke Ball containing Kyurem released the Boundary Pokemon into the battle.

“Wait Kyurem, what are you doing?!” Arti asks, surprised by the Boundary Pokemon’s forceful entrance to the battle.

“Making sure that Tyranitar loses the battle.” Kyurem replies. “I suggest you choose your commands wisely.”

“Okay then, try a Scary Face.” Arti responds to the Boundary Pokemon.

Kyurem froze its icy face to make a mask that’s truly terrifying, scaring Tyranitar enough to make it scared to go first. However, the Armor Pokemon is still willing to attack.

“So that’s one of the legendary Pokemon that you have?” Colton asks, “It looks weak to me, so no matter. Tyranitar strike this Pokemon with Stone Edge.”

The Armor Pokemon picked up the pieces of stone it used to hit Gallade to also strike Kyurem with them.

“Haraahn!” the Boundary Pokemon roars, with the sandstorm making the pain worse after the hit.

“Kyurem, I need you to use Glaciate to weaken that Tyranitar.” Arti requests the move for the Boundary Pokemon to use.

Kyurem chills the air around Tyranitar in a split second, damaging the Armor Pokemon from a sudden temperature drop and slowing it down.

“Why you…” Colton seems to start getting annoyed at the fact that he’s losing the advantage, “Tyranitar, crush Kyurem with Rock Slide.”

The Armor Pokemon rains boulders down on the Boundary Pokemon, dealing noticeable damage. However, Kyurem stays strong, sticking with its determination to put Tyranitar at a disadvantage before being knocked out.

“I will not go down until I’m sure this Tyranitar loses.” the Boundary Pokemon cements its commitment.

“Then use another Glaciate.” Arti commands Kyurem again.

The Boundary Pokemon has frozen the air around the Armor Pokemon again, dealing damage in sudden change in temperature again.

“T-t-tyra” Tyranitar starts to shiver as its slown down again.

“Enough! Use Stone Edge again!” Colton seems to be visibly angry now.

The Armor Pokemon hit the Boundary Pokemon with sharp stones one more time, knocking it out.

“Zekrom… must… not… fail…” Kyurem says weakly.

Arti retracts the Boundary Pokemon back into its Poke Ball. With no other Pokemon left, he took the Ultra Ball out of his pocket and releases the Deep Black Pokemon into battle.

“That legendary Pokemon too?!” Colton lost all of his cool at this point, knowing that there’s a huge chance that he will lose this battle.

“Okay Zekrom, use Bolt Strike!” Arti tells the Deep Black Pokemon.

Zekrom surrounded itself with cyan-colored electricity, then slammed itself against Tyranitar, leaving the Armor Pokemon paralyzed.

“Tyranitar, bury Zekrom with Earthquake NOW!!!” Colton angrily demands Tyranitar.

However, the Armor Pokemon couldn’t move, the paralysis locked its muscles in place.

“Zekrom, time to finish this, use Fusion Bolt!” Arti says to the Deep Black Pokemon.

Zekrom again surrounded itself in cyan-colored electricity before flying up into the air, then slamming its body on Tyranitar, finally knocking out the Armor Pokemon.

“What?! How I could have lost against one teen?!” Colton angrily asks as he retracts Tyranitar back into its golden Poke Ball.

“Colton, I won the battle. Take your employees with you and get out of Reversal Mountain!” Arti says to Colton.

Colton storms upstairs but stops to turn around to say something to Arti.

“This isn’t over, I will make sure to cause the biggest tremors in Unova, and you will see it happen over and over again.” Colton says before resuming his out of Reversal Mountain.

“Well, that’s a scary thought.” Mary reacts to the situation.

“I know, but I will remain committed to defeating him before he can do that.” Arti reassures Mary, then looks at the Light Stone, “We should probably go to a Pokemon Center, that battle was brutal.”

“I saw that you commanded us very well.” Zekrom points out. “I have promised my friend that I would finish Tyranitar off.”

“Wait… You can communicate with Kyurem inside of the Poke Balls?” Arti asks the Deep Black Pokemon.

“That indeed I can. Now unless there’s something else we have to do here, I think going back to Undella Town would be a good idea.” Zekrom answers, then suggests where to go.

With that, the three went back to Undella Town, Arti retracted Zekrom back into its Ultra Ball before heading inside of the Pokemon Center, all of the couple’s Pokemon are fully healed and rested. Now Arti and Mary are inside her villa, Arti still holds the Light Stone in his hands, wondering where the next Trial of Truth will take place, but Mary had a different idea.

“Arti, I think we should take a short break from this heroic quest.” Mary suggests.

“What? Why?” Arti asks, confused.

“Well, it’s because you seemed stressed out about this.” Mary explains.

“I’m fine, besides we expelled Colton from Reversal Mountain, so I’m a lot more calm now.” Arti responds.

“I would like it if you took that break with me anyways.” Mary insists, “I always wanted to see Striaton City.”

“Hmm, Striaton City? Maybe that’s not a bad idea. Let me talk to Kyurem about the idea of a break before we decide.” Arti says as he places the Light Stone back into his backpack before heading outside and releasing Kyurem from its Poke Ball, the sun is close to the brightest of the day.

“Arti, I must speak with you.” the Boundary Pokemon doesn’t hesitate.

“What is it, Kyurem?” Arti asks, then tries to explain. “Look Mary wants a short break from this hero stuff.”

“Well, I can certainly tell you that you can still enjoy that while still taking on the Trial of Truth.” Kyurem proposes.

“How so?” Arti asks with curiosity.

“That is because, for the next Trial of Truth, you must win a battle against a trainer who specializes in the fiery aspect of Pokemon.” the Boundary Pokemon explains.

“So, what you’re saying is that I have to win a battle against a Fire-type specialist, maybe that will work.” Arti accepts, “From what I remember, Chili is one of the three brothers who work at that restaurant, so maybe I could challenge him to a battle. Thanks, Kyurem, I should tell this to Mary.” Arti thanks Kyurem, accepting the Boundary Pokemon’s proposition before retracting it back into its Poke Ball before heading back inside.

“So, what did Kyurem say about the break?” Mary asks, hoping the Boundary Pokemon said yes.

“That we can take that break.” Arti answers, “Not going to lie, I actually want to challenge Chili to a Pokemon battle.”

“Okay, that’s one of the things we will do while at Striaton City then.” Mary agrees to let Arti have a Pokemon battle there.

With the next destination for their adventure decided, the adventuring couple decides to stay at the villa for a little bit longer to rest after walking around inside Reversal Mountain. With the next Trial of Truth taking place right where Mary wants to go, Arti knows that he must win that battle for the Light Stone to be fully charged. However, he still worries about what Colton will try next, as that warning seems very serious.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Chapter 26: Love is in the Air​

The gentle waves are heard as the sun in the sky is the brightest as it has ever been in Undella Town. Arti and Mary get ready for their trek to Striaton City where not only does Mary want to visit, but it’s also the place in which Arti can take on the second Trial of Truth. Off course, he didn’t tell her about the trial. If he was forced to take a break, then he might just passively take on the trial disguised as a fun challenge.

“Do you have everything ready?” Arti asks Mary as he takes a look at all of his supplies in his backpack before zipping it up and wearing it on his back.

“Yes I have everything ready.” Mary answers after checking her handbag twice.

“So, heading to Striaton City should be easy, Route 3, from what I heard, is a peaceful route.” Arti remembers overhearing conversations from trainers who passed through Lacunosa Town talking about Route 3.

“So we should fly to Nacrene City then.” Mary decides the destination to start from.

Arti lets Zekrom out of its Ultra Ball while Mary lets Golurk out of its Poke Ball.

“You know, if you want to visit Lenora again, I can wait.” Arti offers.

“I’m not ready to tell her what I have written down yet.” Mary responds.

Arti doesn’t know it, but Mary still plans to note discoveries down even in her supposed break. The two are seemingly pretending to take that break.

Zekrom and Golurk both fly to Nacrene City, quickly arriving at the warehouse-filled settlement. The two are then returned to their respective Poke Balls. Then the adventuring couple each feel another Poke Ball shaking.

“That’s weird, Kyurem usually waits until we get very close to the location of the trial.” Arti reacts, then picks up a Poke Ball from his pockect, only to find out that it’s Gallade doing the shaking.

“And why is mine shaking too?” Mary asks as she opens her bag, only for the Poke Ball to be revealed that it was Gardevoir’s Poke Ball.

After Arti returns Zekrom to its Ultra Ball, and Mary returns Golurk to its Poke Ball, the two let Gallade and Gardevoir out of their respective Poke Balls.

“Gal” Galade stares into Gardevoir’s eyes.

“Garde” Gardevoir stares into Gallade’s eyes.

“Wait, are they…” Arti begins his sentence.

“In love.” Mary finishes for him.

The two Pokemon hold hands, perhaps there might be more to these Pokemon’s pasts than what their trainers know.

Regardless the four make their way to the gate to the east, the gate that leads to Route 3, then going through it. The scenery that appears before the group is a group of patches of tall grass to the right of the path leading to a bridge that makes the move Surf unnecessary to get across the massive lake. The group make their way over to the bridge, Arti and Mary notice how their Pokemon seem to have their arms around one another.

“I… think it’s a good idea to ask our Pokemon.” Arti brings up an idea.

“You’re right, these two never has done something like this before.” Mary agrees. “But let’s cross this bridge first to talk to them.”

And crossing the bridge they did, with it ending and then another path beginning at the other side, with another group of patches of tall grass, this time darker. Arti decides to ask Gallade about what it’s doing.

“So Gallade, what is this about?” Arti asks the Blade Pokemon.

“Lade?” Gallade asks in return, confused.

“Just curious.” Arti responds.

“Gardevoir, are you possibly in love with this Gallade?” Mary asks the Embrace Pokemon.

“Garde?” Gardevoir asks as it seems that its secret crush towards Gallade has been discovered.

“I think it’s best to let Kyurem talk to them, maybe they are more comfortable talking about this with another Pokemon.” Mary suggests.

“I think you’re right.” Arti agrees as he lets Kyurem out of its Poke Ball.

“What do you need of me?” the Boundary Pokemon asks Arti.

“I have a favor, it’s not something big or anything, can you talk to Gallade and Gardevoir about their perceived crush for one another?” Arti asks Kyurem.

“If that is what you want me to do, then I will talk to them.” the Boundary Pokemon accepts.

Arti and Mary let their Pokemon go ahead without them for a few minutes, then resume following their Pokemon. Meanwhile, Gallade and Gardevoir both explain their relationship as Kyurem listens to them.

“So, you two come from different families of Pokemon and your parents were caught by Pokemon trainers.” the Boundary Pokemon summarize what it has heard.

“Lade gal.” Gallade continues its story, mentioning how it met Gardevoir when both of them were Ralts, then explaining how they ended up in Black City of all places.

“Voir Garde.” Gardevoir explains that they have met just before entering Black City, both of them sensed the negativity coming from it, making both of them scared to head inside of the city alone, then sensing the feelings of two humans who felt differently.

“That makes a lot of sense, I shall explain this to our humans immediately.” Kyurem decides before stopping in its tracks to wait for Arti and Mary to catch up. Both Gallade and Gardevoir decided to wait with Kyurem.

Eventually, Arti and Mary caught up with the group of Pokemon, then the five continue making their way through Route 3, following the path up north until reaching the fork, one leading west towards a cave and the other leading to a trainer’s school with a playground to its left and a Pokemon Daycare on its right.

Before choosing which way to go, Kyurem decides to tell Arti and Mary about Gallade and Gardevoir’s relationship.

“These two are not related at all, before entering Black City, they were Ralts from separate families.” Kyurem starts explaining, “Their parents were caught by Pokemon trainers before they met, so when they did meet, they stayed together.”, the Boundary Pokemon finishes its explanation.

This revelation surprised Arti and Mary, looking towards the east path, which ends and a road leading into Striaton City begins, they decided to take a quick detour to the Pokemon Daycare, intending to let Gallade and Gardevoir have a time for themselves.

The group walked on the east path then up the stairs to the Pokemon Daycare where an old man stands outside of it, Arti has returned Kyurem back into its Poke Ball, then he, Mary and their Pokemon entered.

There they saw an old woman at the counter.

“Welcome to the Pokemon Daycare, we can take care of your Pokemon for the time being. Should there be an egg, you can talk to my husband outside.” the old woman greets Arti and Mary.

“We would like to leave our Gallade and Gardevoir into your care.” Arti requests.

The old woman accepts as she lets the Blade Pokemon and Embrace Pokemon go behind the counter, then through the door. While the two Pokemon enjoy themselves, Arti and Mary wait in the room to the right. This is when the two start talking about that ‘break’ that they were going to take.

“Anyways, about that break, I should tell you that I’m actually not taking a break. I actually do need to win a battle against a Fire-type specialist for the Light Stone to be ready.” Arti admits, pacing around the room.

“Really?” Mary asks, then decides to tell the truth herself. “Actually, I also wasn’t going to take a break either, as I will be noting down details of how the Light Stone will react just as I have noted everything down about the Dark Stone.” she says as she paces around the room.

“Well, it seems like neither of us will take that break then.” Arti responds.

An hour has passed as they talked, then they decided to retrieve their Pokemon, talking to the old woman.

“Okay, we’re here to pick up Gallade and Gardevoir.” Arti tells the old woman.

“A miracle happened while you two waited. Your Pokemon seemed to be holding an egg.” the old woman tells the two.

“Really?” Mary asks, “Looks like two of our Pokemon just became parents themselves.”

After Arti and Mary retrieved Gallade and Gardevoir, they went to meet the old man outside of the daycare.

“So, we were told that our Pokemon has found an egg.” Arti tells the old man.

“They did, here is the egg that they have found.” the old man responds, giving the Pokemon egg to the adventuring couple.

“Thank you.” Mary says to the old man.

Arti and Mary resume their way towards Striaton City, Mary holding the Pokemon egg. No matter how much others will try to claim otherwise, the two knew what really happened between Gallade and Gardevoir for that egg to ‘appear’.

“Do you think they knew what Gallade and Gardevoir did?” Mary asks Arti.

“I think so, they probably just have this rule not to tell trainers what their Pokemon did in private to get the egg.” Arti answers Mary’s question.

The two decide it’s best to actually let their Pokemon hold the egg, so the two let out Gallade and Gardevoir from their Poke Balls. Mary decides to give the egg back to the Embrace Pokemon, whom lets the Blade Pokemon touch the eggshell to see if it can feel their child inside of the egg.

The group eventually arrives at Striaton City, bringing Arti ever closer to the second Trial of Truth. From what he has heard, the battle inside the restaurant is initiated by choosing either Chili or one of his brothers as a teammate for the battle against the other two. Nevertheless, Arti is still nervous, so he will try to come up with a solid strategy.