N found himself dragged away from the group by the Shadows with a very stern hand on his shoulder so they could have what one of them called a “private discussion”. N wasn’t sure how private it could really be if they were all going to stay on or near the beach, but if they wandered too far then there was bound to be someone starting some new nonsense with so many interesting personalities in their group and that really wasn’t needed at the moment.

  Still in sight of the others, but a bit into the treeline, the Shadows let him go, turning to him and letting out a collective sigh. One of them spoke up. “To begin with, even with our… misgivings regarding you disappearing on us like that, we are glad to see that you are safe, Lord N.”

  Another continued. “That said, we have crossed almost the entirety of Sinnoh in our search for you, so please forgive us if we are… ill-tempered at the moment.”

  The third finished with “Now, if you do not mind, would you please inform us of just how exactly you ended up so far from where we last saw you? An update on your journey in the last few days wouldn’t hurt either.”

  N squinted. “I think a more comprehensive explanation of how you three operate is in order so that we can avoid repeats of this in the future, but… let’s see….” He held up a hand, counting off items on his fingers as he recalled the events since he had last seen the Shadows in Veilstone. “Mimikyu ended up with a Mime Jr. disguise because there were no Pikachu dolls available. Speaking of which, we really need to make a stop in Pastoria soon, the Nurse Joy there should have a package waiting for us.”

  The Shadows shared a look at the seeming non sequitur, but did not interrupt.

  “When we were exploring the city we came across a battle between Team Rocket and a group apparently referred to as Team Galactic. Honestly I’m still not sure on a lot of the details there, but Mimikyu believes them to be a bad enough group that he roped me into joining the Rockets against them…”

  “You fought against Galactic?” One of the Shadows hissed out.

  Another smacked him. “Do not disrespect our Lord by interrupting.”

  The third sighed. “I cannot say how wise that was, Lord N, but what’s done is done. Did you learn much about them?”

  “You’re already aware of them?” Part of N wanted to be surprised, but he supposed it would make sense for them to be doing reconnaissance while they were in the region. Plasma would need to expand outside of Unova eventually, after all. “It was… a very confusing fight. The Rockets were the same group I’ve run into before, but while working with them I got the impression that they’d be much more amenable to our goals than even the average trainer, which surprised me for obvious reasons. Galactic themselves… most weren’t of note, but there was one, Saturn, who was a leader of some sort. His Toxicroak really put Mimikyu and Meowth through their paces…” He grimaced as he recalled his friend fighting like that. “According to the Rockets, Galactic had been trying to steal Veilstone’s meteorites before the fight started, so they would appear to be a criminal organization not unlike Rocket themselves, however… when the authorities arrived, Elite Four Lucian stepped in to defend them. They have some sort of in with the League at the highest levels, which is worrying. The Rockets went flying off around that point… Lucian then used some sort of advanced technique to affect everyone’s memories, making them forget about Galactic’s involvement.”

  Eyebrows had risen while he explained. “They’re in with the League?!”

  “It could just be Lucian rather than the whole League…”

  “Does it matter? They’ve got the Psychic expert! Brainwashing our Lord is unforgivable!”

  “Would Lucian step in to save random grunts or is this Saturn a commander?”

  “This could be used to cause a fracture within the League…”

  On and on they mumbled, their words blending together until N could no longer tell which of them was saying what.

  “Wait a moment. You say that Lucian affected everyone’s memories, and yet you can recall this quite well. Did it wear off with time?”

  That shut the other two up.

  “Ah.” N frowned. “That’s where things started getting complicated.”

  “Galactic and League brainwashing wasn’t complicated?” One whispered, causing another to elbow him in the side.

  N realized that they’d be here for quite a long time if he went into detail on everything they’d encountered, so he decided to give them a cliff notes version of events. “Mimikyu prevented the two of us from being affected, but lost his Ghost typing in the process. I managed to conceal my memory retainment before everyone left. We went to Sendoff Spring to fix Mimikyu, met Dusclops,” he pointed over to the rotund Ghost, “ended up in the Distortion World, met Giratina, got Mimikyu fixed, were spat out of the Distortion World west of Canalave, met a guy who called himself an Aura Guardian, made a brief visit to Iron Island, picked up a wild Mawile,” He pointed to the diminutive Steel type, “and Mimikyu learned a new move?” He hummed as he went over things in his head once more, counting them off with his fingers again. “I think that’s everything?”

  When he looked up at them again, he received three blank stares. “Lord N, forgive me, but could you go over that one more time for us?”

  “What’s the Distortion World?” Another whispered, but this time there was no reprimand.

  N sighed. “Okay, so I might have panicked a little at first, and so we…”

  With the Shadow Triad dragging N off into the woods in a manner that definitely wasn’t worrying, left behind was Lucas and the gaggle of eclectic Pokemon.

  The human boy promptly seemed to realize that he would get absolutely nothing out of the conversation to come without Rotom running translations the entire time, so he pouted before wandering off a little bit to investigate the water and the Pokemon within.

  There was an awkward moment in which nobody quite knew what to say, but Mawile broke the silence as she pointed towards the Shadow Triad. “What’s with the weirdos?”

  Banette’s eyes narrowed. “They are not weirdos. They are the Shadow Triad, and you would do well to show them respect.” The zipper that made up his mouth turned down into a frown. “One of them at least.”

  “Shadow Triad?” Dusclops probed. “Are they supposed to be some sort of monochromatic circus act? I kind of dig the outfits!” He laughed, either ignorant or uncaring of the scowl that Banette levelled at him.

  Mimikyu rolled his eyes, not that anyone could see that. “The short version is that they…. I s’pose ya could say they work for N ta some extent? They’re interestin’ if nothing else. They aren’t real importan’ at the moment though. Ya said this Marowak knew N?”

  The group’s attention fell to the Fire type, and Marowak shrunk back under the combined weight of their gazes. “Ah, um, yes….”

  Rotom buzzed. “Rotom is confused. Your overall form has many similarities with the Marowak that Rotom is familiar with, and yet you are very different as well. Do your line have form changes that Rotom is not familiar with?”

  “Oh!” Mawile jumped up into the air, a big smile on both mouths. “I know this one! That must be a Mega Marowak!” She quickly ran up to the newcomer, poking and prodding at him in ways that were clearly making him uncomfortable. “Hey, where’s your stupid rock?”

  Marowak squeaked, closing his eyes and lashing out with his flaming bone blindly. “I don’t have one!”

  Mawile was narrowly saved from taking the hit directly to the face when Banette pulled her into the shadows and moved her a few feet back. “Could you not?”

  “But I wanna see his rock!” Mawile demanded while pouting, Fake Tears streaming down her face and seemingly unaffected by the sudden and unorthodox transportation.

  “I told you I don’t have one!” Marowak shouted, now doing his best to hide behind Dusclops’ large form. “I-I don’t even know what you’re talking about!”

  Dusclops didn’t seem to mind being used as a Pokemon shield. “If we’re talking about rocks, Mawile seems to have lost her marbles!” He chuckled, but only got groans in response and someone muttering how those were made of glass. “Though I’m afraid I’m in the same camp as this strange Marowak here, I don’t know what you’re talking about Mawile.”

  Mimikyu groaned. “There ain’ a Mega Marowak, Mawile. This is just a regional form from Alola. I’m still lost on how ‘xactly you guys managed ta find one though. N hasn’t mentioned anything about ever visitin’ the region so I don’ know how he could know an Alolan Marowak either.”

  “There’s not?!” Mawile shouted, her Fake Tears vanishing in an instant. “Hmph. I guess I must be the only one who can… so I’m the best!”

  “Banette can.” Mimikyu countered.

  “I can what?” Banette asked, clearly not following.

  Mawile was back to pouting. “You can use a stupid rock.”

  “...okay?” The Shadow’s Ghost looked to Mimikyu for clarification.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Mimikyu sighed. “I’ll explain later. Look, where did ya find this guy? Are ya sure he’s even tellin’ the truth?”

  Marowak teared up a bit at the thinly veiled accusation, but unlike Mawile his tears looked real.

  “Well he definitely has some connection to the two of you,” Banette explained. “We were searching the entire region and when I was checking out route… 203 I think it was? Wherever it was, I mistook him for you initially. His signature is completely foreign to Sinnoh, stuck out like a sore thumb. Then the kid started going on about N helping him out when we asked, so either he knows you two or there’s something strange going on here.”

  Rotom buzzed. “And yet it doesn’t seem like either of them recognize the other, which doesn’t make sense given that Mimikyu is so rarely seen without N…”

  Marowak perked up a bit, peeking out from behind Dusclops. “Mimikyu is here? I was a bit worried because I didn’t see any of N’s friends…”

  “Yes?” Mimikyu confirmed in the most incredulous voice he could muster. “I’m right…” He paused, a shadowy hand reaching out from beneath his disguise to pull at the doll’s fabric. “Damn. I hate this stupid….” He let out a defeated sigh. “I’m Mimikyu. I jus’ ‘ave a diff’rent disguise on cuz of uh… reasons. It’s a temporary measure.”

  Marowak nodded happily, stepping out of Dusclops’ shadow and running up to Mimikyu. “Oh! I get it! You evolved too!”

  “No! I just told ya that I… hmm… ya said evolved too?”

  Marowak nodded. “Yeah! I evolved right after you guys left! How long ago did you evolve? Wait, does that mean Mimikyu was a nickname N gave you?”

  Mimikyu’s shadowy hand smacked his true face instead of the false Mime Jr.’s, but he decided to push forward and just ignore the rampant confusion over regional forms, evolutions, and mega evolutions for now. If this Marowak had been picked up on route 203, knew him and N, and had evolved shortly after their departure, there was really only one Pokemon this could be. “So yer tellin’ me that yer the Cubone we ran into during our first Rocket encounter? With the giant wooden mech ‘n’ the war tactics ‘n’ stuff?”

  He ignored the fact that the rest of the group shared a very confused look. None of them had been around for that long, and he wasn’t about to start explaining something else that ultimately didn’t even matter.

  Marowak nodded. “Yeah! Exactly!”

  Mimikyu’s false head tilted to the side. “So yer a Cubone born ‘n’ raised in Sinnoh…. ‘n’ ya evolved in Sinnoh… and yet ya somehow evolved into yer Alolan regional form?”

  Marowak looked down at his purple hands and the flaming bone held in them. “Is that what this is? I was really confused and nobody I talked to understood what happened….”

  “Yeah…. I think I remember somethin’ about Alolan Marowak adaptin’ ta have a Fire an’ Ghost typin’ rather than the usual Ground cuz the islands are filled with Grass types? But I don’ get how you specifically would’ve ended up like this.”

  “Well!” Rotom chimed. “Rotom thinks it is rather obvious if Rotom’s understanding of the situation is correct! What makes this Marowak stand out from any other Marowak in the region? It evolved after spending time with you!”

  Mimikyu paused. “I mean- yeah? Maybe? But how would that even work?”

  “How should we know stupid?” Mawile stuck her extra large tongue out at him “None of us are from Alola.” She paused. “Right? I don’t actually know any of you guys.”

  The group responded in the negative, and Mimikyu confirmed that “Yeah, it’s jus’ me… I guess…”

  Dusclops spoke up. “Well, the King made you out to be sort of a big deal, didn’t he? If Cubone evolved into a Ghost type, and this form is from the same region that you are, maybe that’s not a coincidence? The King didn’t call me “Mine own spawn” or anything…” The Ghost seemed to sulk a bit as he recalled that.

  Banette tilted his head. “Sinnoh has a king? Since when?”

  “That is true…” Rotom continued, not allowing Banette’s question to be answered. “Perhaps it is the presence of Mimikyu in Alola that changes the Marowak rather than the abundance of Grass types!”

  “But they’re native ta diff’rent islands,” Mimikyu rebutted.

  Rotom’s eyes rolled. “Rotom has seen a map of Alola, it is not that large and Rotom sincerely doubts that there is no travel of captured Mimikyu to whatever island the Marowak are on.”

  “Why are you still talking about this?” Mawile whined. “This is boring! Banette! Show me your stupid rock!”

  “I still don’t know what rock you’re talking about,” Banette lamented.

  Mimikyu sighed. “This is prob’bly above our heads anyway. Maybe N can call Professor Rowan ‘n’ ask ‘im about it? I think he’s the one that specializes in evolution, that’d be right in his wheelhouse…”

  “Bzzrt! You’d be correct in that! Rotom is sure the professor would love to study such a strange specimen!”

  Marowak shuddered. “Um, s-so you’re sending me away…?”

  Dusclops laughed. “Of course not! This group is pretty nice, they wouldn’t do something like that!”

  Mimikyu’s false head nodded. “Yeah, don’ go ‘n’ jump ta conclusions like that, I was jus’ sorta thinkin’ out loud. Now that I think about it, yer probably outta sorts after bein’ dragged here, ain’ ya? You skipped out on travellin’ with N ‘n’ I cuz ya wanted ta live with that Nuzleaf or somethin’, didn’t ya?”

  Marowak shrank in on himself. “Oh… about that… um… So when I evolved, nobody really knew what happened, right? Because I was so weird… And I- the tree, it-”

  Every eye in the group was slowly drawn towards the green flames on the end of Marowak’s bone. Marowak had very suddenly gained a Fire typing with absolutely no idea of how to be a Fire type. With this being Sinnoh, it was entirely possible that he’d never even seen a Fire type before. And he’d evolved in a forest, with a big tree and a bunch of Grass types.

  “Ohhhhh….” Mawile’s eyes had gone wide. “You burned down the tree!”

  Marowak burst into tears.

  Sendoff Spring was never quiet with how many ringing and chiming Chingling and Chimecho lived in the area, but it was typically peaceful.

  That peace was broken rather abruptly as a group just shy of a dozen strong appeared out of the shadows with no prior warning.

  The many Psychic types quickly vanished into the tall grass, frightened of the intruders and peering at them between the tall blades. One dared to creep a bit closer and investigate, but when Banette leaned forward, unzipped his mouth, and vomited, that bravery was replaced with disgust and it cowered away like the others.

  “That’s disgustin’.” Mimikyu commented as he climbed up onto N’s shoulder to avoid the mess.

  “I’d like to see you transport that many people that far at once!” Banette complained as he redid his zipper.

  A Shadow knelt down, pulling out a few berries. “I apologize, Banette. I should have known the strain would be too much. We could have broken it into smaller trips…”

  The Ghost accepted the berries but waved off his concerns. “It’s fine, we just need to get one of these slackers to pick up on it so I can distribute the load more…”

  “Me! Me! Me!” Mawile shouted, jumping up and down. “I wanna learn how to do that! That was so cool!”

  She was the only one who looked anywhere close to something like excited. The Shadow Triad were well used to travelling this way, N and Mimikyu had grown accustomed to Distortion’s effect on them, but the others… Lucas seemed like he was one step away from joining Banette in losing his breakfast, and despite being Ghosts themselves, even Rotom and Dusclops looked a bit queasy.

  N pat the little Steel type’s head, wary of the giant maw. “I think he was talking about the others, Mawile. I doubt someone who isn’t a Ghost type could do it.”

  Mawile pouted. “But I already became a Fairy, didn’t I? And Marowak became a Ghost, so I should be able to do it too if they just do a bunch of Ghost stuff near me, right?!”

  N paused, couldn’t think of a rebuttal to that argument that would satisfy Mawile, and promptly moved on, hoping she’d forget about it.

  Dusclops gave a hearty laugh. “You folks are a real hoot and a holler! Almost makes me want to stay with you! Ah, but this place is home…. I’m gonna miss you all!”

  It was a bit of a disappointment for N, having grown used to the large Ghost’s presence in the past few days, but ultimately Dusclops had been whisked away into the Distortion World by the whims of Dusknoir and hadn’t planned to travel with them at all. The Shadow Triad rejoining him meant that the region could be crossed in an instant, and so now…

  Well, now it was time to say goodbye as he returned home.

  “I’ll miss you too!” Marowak cried out.

  “Didn’t you just meet him for the first time an hour ago?” Rotom chirped.

  “So? I’ll still miss him! He’s nice!”

  Dusclops laughed. “I appreciate it, kid!”

  A Shadow stepped forward. “Might I make a request of you?”

  Dusclops gave an odd tilt of his head, but nodded. “I don't see why not!”

  “Please inform this Dusknoir character that if he unceremoniously sends our Lord to the Distortion World again, we will be having words with him.”

  “Will do!” Dusclops laughed, giving the Shadow a big thumbs up.

  The Shadow stepped back, and N stepped forward, bringing Mimikyu along with him. “I suppose this is where we part ways, but I want you to know that I am extremely grateful for what you’ve done for us, and I apologize for dragging you into the mess that is our lives, even if temporarily.”

  “Those are big words!” Dusclops chuckled awkwardly. “The way I see it, most of that was sort of my fault since I’m the one that took you to Dusknoir…”

  “I mean….” Mimikyu hedged, “Without that, we wouldn’t’ve met Giratina, ‘n’ I might not’ve gotten my Source fixed, so I guess we gotta thank ya for that mess regardless. I ‘preciate ya savin’ me ‘n’ all.”

  “Exactly,” N nodded along. “For that alone, I can’t thank you enough.”

  Dusclops did a strange shrug. “If you say so! Now, I hate to cut our goodbyes short, but I can already see that these brats have gotten into a bit of a mess while I was gone, so…”

  “Right. Goodbye, Dusclops.”

  “Seeya,” Mimikyu waved.

  “It’s been nice knowing you guys!” He turned and started marching off to where some of the Chingling had fled. “Now get over here! Do I need to bring you into the cave to stop you from making such a mess of the place while I was gone?”

  A Shadow appeared at N’s side.

  “And where would you have us go next, Lord N? I do not think Banette should be moving like that again, so perhaps walking would be best for now…”

  N sighed as he surveyed his now significantly larger group. “Well, before all this mess… I believe our next destination was Pastoria.”

  “Finally!” Mimikyu cried out in relief. “I can get outta this stupid doll and go back ta lookin’ like a knock off Pikachu!”

  “Wait,” Marowak said, “you really didn’t evolve?”

  Mawile shook her head. “No, he doesn’t have one of the stupid rocks.”

  “Will ya shut up about the stupid rocks?!”