“Hold it right there, man,” I said casually. “We’re not just gonna pretend he has not given up on his life after getting his heart broken like that.”
“Luch?” Hawlucha asked with a frown, still trying to twist its arm out of my grip. Its free arm moved back, the claws of its hand glowing silver. As it punched forward, I punted the wrestling Pokémon away from me. It flew out in a rather perfect arc before crashing into the sand with an audible thump.
I looked at Skorupi, who was laying there limply. His dark blood was coming out quickly and his breaths were shallow and rapid. I grabbed a Super Potion from my bag and sprayed the worst of his injuries. His eyes were dull orbs, unfocused and hopeless. Poor guy. To get thrashed around, and then get broken up with because of it… Couldn’t be me.
“Aye, you good?” I asked, staring Skorupi right in the eyes. Skorupi barely acknowledged that I spoke, so I grabbed a few cookies that Ra and Nautilus liked and tossed them to him.
“She left you the moment you began losing a battle, not even trying to help you,” I said, my words bringing tears to his eyes. “She’s trash bro, meant for the streets. Not worth the t-.”
Skorupi’s tail lit up in a bright purple energy, slashing towards me. I slapped it away and kicked some dirt in his eyes.
“Oy, let me finish first, you jackass!” I exclaimed, secretly glad I got him out of his rut momentarily.
“For a good relationship, you and your partner need to understand what you want and need from the relationship. You need to be willing to compromise and work towards making the relationship work, or else it is doomed to fail. I don’t know what the two of you were like before, so I won’t comment on that.
“But she left you while you were getting your ass, er, tail, handed to you. Just that by itself could have been understood by her being terrified or wanting to get some help from somewhere. But she looked at you with disdain, as if you had no value to her anymore. That’s not a partner. You deserve better.”
Skorupi listened raptly, though he wore a scowl the entire time. He picked up one of the cookies, scanning the item as if something in it held his fate.
“I’m not going to tell you what to do,” I said, putting a Pokéball in front of him. “But I will say you can either drown in self-pity and go into a cycle of blame and hate, or you can learn from what happened and grow into a smarter, stronger… better version of yourself.”
With that, I grabbed a soda and took a sip, offering the rest to Skorupi. Before he could make a decision, Hawlucha appeared again, dive-bombing from the air. Its eyes were focused on me, snarling and growling the entire way down. As soon as it got in range, I punched Hawlucha’s face, sending it careening through the air. I threw a Luxury Ball, one I received from Nurse Joy in Santalune City. It streaked towards the flying Pokémon, hitting Hawlucha on the way down. It shook once, twice, then a third and fourth time before clicking in success.
Skorupi, his eyes wide the entire time, immediately touched the Pokéball and allowed himself to be caught without a shake.
‘Sweet, I got both. Time to check them out,’ I thought.
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Hawlucha (Female): The Wrestling Pokémon
Description: Although it has a small body, this Pokémon uses its proficient fighting skills and high agility to keep up with heavy hitters like Machamp. It sometimes likes to show off, giving opponents an opportunity to strike.
Abilities: Limber, Mold Breaker
Moves: Hone Claws (Trained), Detect, Tackle, Wing Attack, Aerial Ace (Trained), Attract, Submission (Trained), Baton Pass, Feather Dance (Trained), Brick Break (Trained), Bounce (Trained), Taunt (Trained), Steel Wing (Trained), Fire Punch (Trained), Roost, Revenge (Trained), Trailblazer, Low Sweep (Trained), Zen Headbutt (Trained), Rock Tomb, U-Turn, Drain Punch (Trained), Swords Dance (Trained), Protect, Facade (Trained), Payback (Trained), Acrobatics (Trained), Retaliate (Trained), False Swipe, Flying Press, Entrainment (Egg Move, Trained), Defog (Egg Move), Quick Guard (Egg Move), Agility (Egg Move, Trained)
Condition: Furious, Ashamed, Embarrassed
______
Skorupi (Male): The Scorpion Pokémon
Description: Living in arid environments, it burrows in sand and can wait up to a year for food. Its tail claws are razor sharp and poisonous, gripping prey tenaciously until the poison does its job.
Abilities: Battle Armor, Sniper
Moves: Leer (Trained), Poison Sting, Thief, Fell Stinger, Poison Fang (Trained), Bite (Trained), Screech (Trained), Toxic Spikes, Dig, Attract, Rest, Slash (Egg Move, Trained), Confuse Ray (Egg Move), Sand Attack (Egg Move)
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Condition: Despondent, Spiteful, Self-Critical
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Hawlucha was embarrassed? Was I that much stronger than she expected? And Skorupi is going to take a while to gain some confidence. But I’m sure Ra and Tetsu will do great with that. Ra is a helpful Chad and Tetsu is just full of love for everyone but Hestia. Skorupi must be pretty young if his movepool is so… underwhelming.
So far, the number of moves a Pokémon has learned seems to be positively associated with the Pokémon’s strength. In other words, the more moves a Pokémon knows, the stronger they are. While it’s not 100% accurate, it’s a good general measurement.
And Skorupi is one of the weakest on the team now. Which means he’ll need a lot of dedicated training. I’m sure Ra wouldn’t mind helping him catch up, though Ra might be too soft. Maybe Nautilus would be better. Either way, one of them would train Skorupi while I sparred with Hawlucha. It would be a waste to not learn a fighting style from a Fighting-type, not to mention Hawlucha will need to catch up to all of us. Maybe I can find out how to evolve her through our spars. I also need to make sure I don’t slack either. After Giratina’s blessing took effect, I’ve been consistently getting tougher. I’m sure Nautilus is going to take care of that. All in all, the grind never truly ended. Though, I guess that’s to be expected from such a world.
‘I wonder how I compare to Calem, or even Augustine?’
I shook my head. It didn’t matter right now because we had enemies that would eventually swarm the entire continent.
I wonder if Araceli was able to get any Tera Orbs. I would love to see what her Tera type is. Personally, I was hoping for something like Dark or Fairy as it could completely change the way people try to deal with her in terms of super-effective attacks. But Tera-Ghost would make her a complete monster of a Ghost type. I guess I’ll find out eventually. With that, I began to run towards Phenac City again.
Nautilus was floating along with me, both of us just enjoying the fact that we weren’t separated anymore. As we sped along, our surroundings rushing by and various Pokémon crying out in surprise, I couldn’t help but notice a slight change in the air. It wasn’t all that obvious at first, but I felt something almost… Snap. The air grew a little more chilly, the cries of the Pokémon were silenced, and everything seemed to have a sort of filter over it, making it look slightly darker than before.
I wouldn’t have paid it any more attention than just a thought, but Nautilus also noticed it.
‘You felt that too?’ he asked.
“Yeah, I did. Almost missed it,” I told him.
‘As if it didn’t want to be noticed, right?’
“Yeah. You think something is gonna happen soon?” I asked, my tone becoming serious.
‘I think the question is how soon,’ he said solemnly. He was right. With what Giratina told me and the power-up I received, it would be stupid of me to think nothing would pop up soon after I came back to this dimension. I’m gonna need some more friends if shit keeps escalating.
0-0-0-0-0
[Lowly Grunt POV, Paldea Region]
“You really expect us to give you another chance at this?”
The boss coldly asked, his voice laced with a calm malice. In all my years working for Team Flux, this was the first time I felt terrified by anything the Boss said. From a small group focused discussing the ways Trainers were forced to work for the League to getting new regulations on Trainers and their Pokémon passed, the Boss always had a bright, genuine smile and a we-can-do-it attitude. We always focused on ways to improve conditions for anyone striving to be a Trainer.
But lately, the Boss was terrifying. He never hurt anyone, never swore or even raised his voice. And yet, just being around the Boss gave me a sense of dread, as if something was lurking deep within just waiting to come out. I had been on edge for the last few months, expecting the Boss to lash out. But he never did. All we received was a calm, detached demeanor and an atmosphere of hidden malevolence that was, so far, unfounded.
But it was there. No matter who was being spoken to, whether for good news or a failure… The Boss scared us all.
“I have no expectations, Boss. I just ask for redemption. I want to fix my mistake. I’ll kill Marco and his Pokémon this time,” Jace said, his back drenched in sweat. The balls he had to approach the Boss and ask for another chance… I was frozen in fear, afraid to be killed off like the small group of Flux members that confronted the Boss over his focus on Marco, a relatively unknown Trainer. They didn’t make it halfway through voicing their displeasure before they were split in half by the Boss himself.
“I doubt you could do it now,” the Boss said without a spare glance at Jace. “He is much stronger now than before. You’ve yet to beat Aiden.”
Jace shot me a furious stare, one I ignored to limit my involvement.
“But if you insist, I’ll help you,” he finished. We all stared at the two of them, not believing what we just heard. Jace’s face lit in excitement. “You’ll need a bit of energy to strengthen yourself and your Pokémon. Are you ready?”
Jace hurriedly accepted the offer and was immediately engulfed in a wave of flames. I was mesmerized by the dancing nature of the fire until Jace’s ear-popping, blood-curdling shrieks of agony brought me back to the reality of the situation.
Jace's skin began to burn and bubble, his figure growing bulkier with each second. The flames bathed Jace in a red light as his skin began to whittle down to patches, blood and what looked like lava dripping out of his veins. His face was a grotesque mess of skin and flesh, making him look like the demonic entities that I saw in the news. His right hand… Was that a fucking rifle for a hand?! What did the Boss do?
“It seems as if you have the aptitude for Argent energy,” the Boss said quietly with a mildly surprised expression on his face. “I wonder how many others could truly help our cause if they prove to be capable as well.”
A shiver ran down my spine at his words. Argent energy? Our cause? How would Jace’s demonic zombification help us create better lives for Trainers? Just what did the Boss do to him? The more my thoughts raced, the more I realized that Team Flux was no longer the group fighting for positive change. Whatever the Boss was planning, whatever he was involved in… I no longer wanted any part of it. This was not what I signed up for.
“Let’s see how many of you are able to survive the transformation with as clear a mind as Jace,” the Boss’ neutral voice rang out, clearing my mind of every thought. Before I could do or think of anything, I felt my body be set ablaze. My skin tightened as it burned and changed. My body was being tortured, not a millimeter or cell spared. Hate began to bubble and build, my body a dam that could never hope to hold it back. But instead of breaking it, the hate reinforced my body.
The pain I felt was overpowered by a new sense of strength. I hungered and thirsted for more, my blood boiling in anticipation. The Boss’ eyes set themselves on me with acknowledgement. As the flames died down, I was able to look at the others. Most did not survive the test, the pathetic fools showing how weak they were. Some that survived were mindless monsters, killed by the Boss when their feeble minds decided it was a good idea to attack our leader. But those of us that passed the test ended up much stronger than before.
And we were ready to kill for more power.
0-0-0-0-0-0
[Unknown POV, Asado Desert]
‘I’m not being paid enough for this shit,’ Larry thought to himself. For the last few hours, he had been running from Tagtree Thicket to Asado Desert. He was originally impressed with the Violet Champion’s idea of using the more aggressive and uncontrollable Pokémon in the war against the Paradox Pokémon unleashed by the deceased professors. And then she mentioned how they were going to do that.
As Larry rode atop his trusty Staraptor, the only one who stuck with him throughout his life, he began to contemplate why he still worked for the League.
‘If it weren’t for these time traveling monsters, I think I would’ve been enjoying a nice vacation in Santalune City right now,” Larry mused. ‘But then I’d be fighting against those demons that are running rampant in the wilds.”
Truly, Larry would never be able to fully escape his job’s responsibilities. Whether it was going against a constant stream of Gym challengers from the Academy or, as he now found himself, leading a pack of over 100 wild Annihilape throughout Paldea’s landscape towards the main battle location, Larry was never able to fully relax for more than 30 minutes. As Staraptor dodged yet another Rock Slide, Larry began to think of how high a raise he could get from either Champion.