While their destination had been set, the group had no interest in rushing their way into the next big problem. Things had been hectic enough lately, so slow going as they made their way to Sinnoh’s southern shores would give them a chance to relax.
Most of them, anyway. Their casual stroll down the route had given the Shadow Triad an opportunity to question him more. A single member walked by his side at the moment, the others… somewhere in the shadows? It was strange to know they were there but not present. Watching. Waiting.
“My Lord, it is not my position to question you, but having heard your explanation for recent events, we are left wondering if your judgement has perhaps been… compromised, in some way.”
N frowned. “I already told you, Mimikyu prevented Lucian’s Psychics from influencing me.”
“I think it wouldn’t hurt to have you evaluated by some of our own Psychics as a precautionary measure, but that’s not what I was referring to.” The Shadow paused for a moment, clearly searching for the right way to phrase things. “We Shadows do not have a great baseline to work with, given our rather recent addition to Plasma and how little we’ve actually gotten to work with you, but before we initially departed to search for you we took the liberty of asking around. We wanted an understanding of who you were, that we were being asked to pledge our loyalty to. Lord N is a rather lofty name to be tossing around, after all.”
Hearing that he had been researched by the trio who already made him wary was disconcerting, but he couldn’t really blame them. Becoming a Lord of Plasma hadn’t been his idea after all, but rather something that was thrust unto him. Without a deep understanding of Plasma, their organizational structure, their goals, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think it was all a bit suspect. That was why fa-Ghetsis went around preaching the word of Plasma throughout Unova. So that people could come to understand. Those who weren’t corrupted beyond saving, anyway. Still, though… “And what part of that leads you to believe that I’m compromised?”
The Shadow seemed hesitant to continue, but pressed on regardless. “The picture painted of you does not quite match up with recent choices you’ve made. Your love and care for Pokemon could not be emphasized enough, but running off in the middle of the night with no warning so that you could chase after what might be a solution to Mimikyu’s problem? It may have worked out for you in the end, but what if the Distortion World had not been so kind to you? What would Plasma do if you had been sealed away in a place we could not find, let alone reach? We were told you were an intelligent young man who let his passion guide him, not a brash fool who allowed it to control him. And given what we have been learning about the Fairy type...”
N scowled. “Is this about that enchantment or whatever that Joy called it? You think that being around Mimikyu has warped my decision making capabilities? That because of his type, I can no longer be trusted?”
The Shadow shook his head. “My apologies, Lord N, if that is how my words came off. I am merely trying to raise the possibility of such a thing, so that you may take steps to counteract the effect if necessary. There are other possibilities as well, of course, but what would normally be the most likely seems… out of place, for someone like you.”
N’s scowl lessened to something more like a deep frown. “And what would that be?”
The Shadow gave him an odd look. “Well… it could simply be that you care for Mimikyu in a different way than what I’ve heard of your previous friends. I am told that in the past, Pokemon would come and go, never sticking around for long, always being treated well, but as little more than passing acquaintances. If it is not some outside force…. One might look at the two of you and think you are partners. A relationship more akin to what the public views trainers and their aces as.”
N’s scowl returned something fierce. The Shadows dare compare him to a trainer? Those monsters who force their Pokemon to suffer?
Before he could give a scathing retort, the Shadow held up a hand. “Please, just give it some thought. We will support you regardless of how things turn out.”
And then the Shadow vanished from right in front of his eyes.
“Stupid Shadow Triad…” N grumbled now that the target of his ire had run away.
He needed to figure out that little trick for himself.
But… as he worked past the initial anger of the comparison, he had to wonder if there was truth to the Shadow’s words.
N had felt… disappointment when they’d said goodbye to Dusclops. They’d known each other for a few days, and the Ghost had left a mark on him, despite the fact that they’d interacted little.
In contrast to that, N distinctly remembered leaving Cubone behind with a smile on his face.
What was the difference there? Was it the length of time spent together? How they’d left? He supposed Cubone gaining new friends had been a bit more uplifting than Dusclops returning to his normal life.
As he thought back to before meeting Mimikyu, the encounter with Cubone seemed to fit the norm much better.
And Mimikyu himself….
N had felt panicked. Mimikyu had told him to calm down. To just accept what help Nurse Joy could give and let the little fae be shipped off to a Ghost expert. But N hadn’t listened. He’d run off, trying to take care of things in his own way, even if it hadn’t been the most efficient.
Why had he done that? He recalled saying something about not trusting people, but they were talking about a Joy. They, at the very least…
N shook his head. He was letting himself get worried over the Shadow’s baseless concerns. Seeing things that weren’t there.
Nothing had changed. He wasn’t going to let self doubt start creeping in over nothing.
The group’s slowed pace had given Lucas a much needed opportunity to scrounge around the route that he had been rushed through previously. Nobody else seemed to like backtracking, however, and he found himself biting the inside of his cheek as he considered what might be up on the ledges of the mountainside…
It would be fine, though. There was nothing saying that he couldn’t come back later! He still had that Fly HM to use at some point… once he got a Flying type…
And there’d probably be more treasure to collect if he came back later! Someone will surely have planted more berries for him to collect! And it would have to be someone else planting them, because Lucas sure wasn’t giving up any for future harvests. He signed up for battles, not farming!
Worse than the lack of backtracking, however, was just how infuriating the Pokemon on this route were turning out to be. The disparity in strength between his Pokemon was starting to become a problem, and would only get worse when the egg hatched. Torterra was great, and Bibarel could be pretty solid, but Eevee and Togepi… while he would never say that they were dragging the team down, Lucas didn’t quite think they were up to par. Quick Attack and Bite could only get Eevee so far, and Metronome could only save Togepi so many times before it started calling moves like Self Destruct.
BOOM!
Speaking of which.
“Lucas! Will you stop messing with the Gravelers already?!” N shouted from the actual route rather than the tall grass Lucas was combing through for items.
Lucas waved him off, not much caring for his attitude.
It’s not like he wanted all the stupid Rock types to start almost every encounter by turning themselves into shrapnel. He just wanted Eevee and Togepi to get a bit more experience! But this was… what, the fifth or sixth time now that one of these stupid things had exploded and necessitated Torterra jumping in to act as a shield? His starter was tough, but tanking so many Self Destructs was causing his shell to crack in a few places. Nothing too serious yet, but if the next chance to heal up was all the way in Pastoria then Lucas was going to have to start breaking out the Potions, and that just wasn’t acceptable!
Maybe he could have Torterra Leech Seed a few unsuspecting Pokemon so he could heal that way instead…?
No. Not here, anyway. That was showcased by the way Eevee fought his way through grass twice his height, stumbled into a wild Houndour, and was promptly Roared back into his Pokeball, needing to be released again while the Dark type ran away.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The Normal type levelled him with an annoyed pout when he materialized again, no doubt as fed up as he was, but all Lucas could do was shrug. Eevee needed some experience, and if they waited too long to work on that he’d only fall further behind Torterra.
“Bi.” Bibarel got his attention with a light swat against his leg with her massive tail. That was nice to see. She was still… well, she was still a Bibarel, but it felt like recently she was becoming more… aware, maybe? She had been more attentive to his instructions in the battle against Byron. Or was that something he imagined because she was growing on him more? It was hard to tell sometimes.
She swatted him again, so he tried to stop getting lost in thought, finally noticing that she was trying to direct him towards Togepi who was a moment away from getting eaten?!
Eevee jumped into the air, body enveloped with the white glow of a Quick Attack to close the distance as the nauseous inky black of Dark type energy gathered around his mouth, latching onto the very thin neck of the attacking Pokemon.
Togepi just let out a “Prii!” and danced around as the Pokemon flailed about, its orange eyes wide open as it howled in pain.
Whatever it was, Lucas didn’t think he’d ever seen one before. The front of its body was a dark brown and the back a slightly orangish-yellow. It stood on hooves like a Ponyta, but for some reason the joints were backwards and the head was tiny for a body of that size. If anything, the tail looked more like a proper neck than what Eevee was sinking that Bite into, with those two white protrusions looking a bit like horns…
…and as it thrashed and managed to free itself from Eevee’s attack, the tail turned and Lucas saw that it had a face on it.
This thing had two heads? Freaky.
The one that he had assumed to be a tail opened its mouth, pink energy building up inside of it–
Only for Eevee to hit the thing with another Bite and send it collapsing to the ground, unable to continue.
The little Normal type perked up at finally getting a victory on this awful route. “Vee!” He proclaimed as he held his head high.
Lucas found himself smiling as well. If this new Pokemon went down that easily he wasn’t sure how much Eevee could actually get out of battling them, but at the very least it was better than the big fat nothing he was getting from the Graveller and Houndour.
He scoured the tall grass, looking not for more treasures…. Well, at least not actively, but instead for more of these weird double headed Pokemon.
“Prii!”
And then the entire patch of tall grass went up like a light show, crackling with electricity. Strangely enough, it didn’t hurt at all, and the Pokemon in the tall grass merely appeared more alert.
Several heads popped up out of the tall grass, looking annoyed and half awake, searching for something… and settling on him and his team. The various Pokemon glared at him.
“Lucas!” N shouted. “How many times do I have to tell you?!”
Lucas really needed to do something about Togepi and Metronome.
N sighed as he watched Lucas sprint out of the tall grass, trying to avoid the nocturnal Pokemon he’d awoken. “I don’t even know what move that is…”
“Looks like Electric Terrain ta me,” Mimikyu supplied as he jumped up onto N’s shoulder. “Makes sense ya wouldn’ know it, not really a thing ‘round ‘ere.” N subtly adjusted his gait to account for the new weight. “So what did the Shadows want? Banette was pretty obvious in ‘is attempts ta keep me away from ya for a bit. Like he’d actually be int’rested in Mawile’s little shiny rock obsession…”
N raised a brow. “Did you actually explain Mega Evolution to him?”
“He got the same explanation you got.”
So a very poor one that likely led to more questions than answers. Poor Banette. “To answer your question, though, it was just a bunch of them being worried over nothing.”
“I mean ya did tell them we went ta the Distortion World, right? I don’ think a bit of worry after somethin’ like that is crazy. Really, not bein’ worried would be more concernin’.”
“They can save their worry for Pokemon that need it, not me,” N scoffed. “On the topic of Pokemon that require worry…”
Finding out that the Cubone he had left behind had almost immediately burned down an ancestral tree and been kicked out of Nuzleaf’s home had been… not ideal. With how sensitive the little Ground… no, the Fire type was, N frankly was surprised that Marowak was holding up as well as he seemed to be.
“Eh,” Mimikyu made a noncommittal sound. “Ain’ like I can say how well the kid is doin’ after we’ve been together for a few hours, but Mawile seems ta be keepin’ ‘im busy at least. Keeps insistin’ she’ll take the Ghost type from ‘im if they hang out ‘nough, so they’ll end up good friends… or hatin’ each other. I’m cautiously hopin’ for the first scenario.”
His friends becoming friends on their own was always a good outcome. It’s not like they’d be with him forever…. Though he wasn’t quite sure where they’d end up either, given how Cynthia and the rest of the League likely wouldn’t be happy with an “infected” Pokemon like Mawile and a… well, whatever Marowak’s case turned out to be, ending up in the wild where it might spread to more Pokemon.
They’d figure something out, N was sure.
His attention was stolen by a very loud set of camera men off to the side of the route, however.
“Look pal, I was here first, so take a hike!”
“You think you can stop me? You don’t even have a reporter with you!”
“Yeah? And where’s yours?”
“At the Hotel Grand Lake, arranging rooms for us.”
“And you don’t think mine is doing the same? Tell me, where do they find morons like you? Who do you even work for?”
“Jubilife TV is a respected organization!”
Some Staravia startled at his shout, flying out of the nearby trees and off into the distance.
“Excuse me!” N spoke up as he approached them. “You’re disturbing the Pokemon in the area. Could you tone it down?”
The Jubilife TV employee groaned. “Great. Another one? Who do you guys work for? I work for the station in Sinnoh, I refuse to let some amateurs get the best of me!”
N frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean by that. Is there something going on here that would attract so much attention from the networks?”
The two camera men froze at that, sharing a look before Mr. Jubilife spoke up again. “There’s a rare Pokemon here I’m trying to catch on camera. But it won’t come out if it senses people, so I’m trying to minimize the human presence. If only someone would take a hint,” He glared at the other cameraman with that line.
The recipient of his ire rolled his eyes. “I’m the one who filmed the red Gyarados at the Lake of Rage, if anyone were to film a rare Pokemon here, it would be me.”
“A rare Pokemon?” N’s eyes narrowed. Their story could make sense, but it could also be a cover for them trying to kidnap some poor Pokemon.
Mimikyu hummed on his shoulder. “I mean, I think this might be the entrance ta Lake Valor, so they could be talkin’ about Azelf, but…”
The Gyarados filmer slowly pointed his camera at N’s face. “But you know… that Pokemon on your shoulder looks pretty rare as well. Last I checked, Mime Jr. doesn’t look quite so doll-ish.”
Mr. Jubilife scoffed. “You’re really going to waste your time filming a Pokemon hiding in a doll when Wallace is-” He suddenly froze at that, having caught his slip up too late.
N frowned. “Wallace?”
Mr. Gyarados scowled. “You moron. This was a scoop! Do you imbeciles in Jubilife really go blabbing about material to everyone you meet? No wonder your ratings are in the trash outside this region!”
As the two cameramen descended into bickering again, Mimikyu explained for him. “Wallace is a big deal in Hoenn. Top coordinator, ‘n’ either a top Gym Leader or Champion, can’t remember which… actually. Now that I’m thinkin’ ‘bout it, doesn’ the Wallace Cup get held ‘ere?”
N frowned. For all the odd knowledge that Mimikyu had picked up from who knows where, not knowing that Steven Stone was the Champion of Hoenn was an odd thing to miss. N hadn’t gone through the effort of memorizing all the Gym Leaders because they ended up getting replaced with some regularity, but Champions? They were worth taking note of.
“What’s a Wallace Cup?” the question came from behind them.
As N turned, he found that the rest of the group had now caught up. Mawile stared up curiously, her maw drooling, and her little hand wrapped around Marowak’s who desperately looked like he wanted to run away.
“It’s a big deal for coordinators ‘n’ stuff,” Mimikyu explained. “Somethin’ ‘bout a special ribbon maybe? Wallace organizes it, hence the name.”
There was a crackle of electricity. “Rotom sees! So these two stumbled upon Gym Leader Wallace before the festivities began and wanted to get exclusive footage of his Milotic!” The Electric type let out a sound that was similar to the volume being turned up on his phone. “HEY WALLACE! THESE WEIRDOS ARE SPYING ON YOU!”
The two cameramen paled, breaking into a sprint in an instant. “I won’t forget this, jerk!”
Rotom let out a staticky giggle. “Rotom isn’t sure why they panicked. Wallace would most likely give them the footage they wanted so long as they waited to publish it.”
While Rotom was having a good time, N was internally panicking. Cynthia already hated them. He really did not need to run into another region’s Champion and piss them off. “Maybe we should go…”
“But what’s a coordinator?” Mawile asked.
“Um, Mawile, I don’t think they want to talk about that right now…” Marowak pointed out.
It was a bit too late for that though. Stepping out of the foliage was a very… perhaps flamboyant would be a good way to describe him? An interestingly dressed man was approaching them, a bemused look on his face.
“So. Are you the… weirdos who are supposedly spying on me?”
Shit.
Every time Togepi uses Metronome I’m using the perchance(dot)org metronome generator and today the first result was just the word “Trash”. I genuinely have no idea what that was supposed to be. At first I thought it might be some sort of two word move where part just didn’t end up in the system, but there’s no move with “Trash” in the name at all. Pokemon has Trash cans. Trash cloak Wormadam? There’s a card called Trash Exchange from 25 years ago? I am just so befuddled.
As always, feedback is appreciated. (If you’re actually looking for a response, discord is the place to be)
