How much time has passed? A month? … Yes, it was a month.

It had been a month since Alisson started training under Giratina’s supervision in the Distortion World. It was a daunting task, getting stronger as fast as possible so that she could deal with the distortions quickly. She even managed to evolve during that time, which she remembered that’s something Pokémon usually do when they get stronger.

Her evolution was strange. From a four-legged creature, she turned into a bipedal one. It was normally odd at first, walking on two legs felt a bit weird after staying on four paws for some time. However, she managed to get the hang of it in the same hour after evolving, like she had been walking like that for more time than she could remember.

It was probably a human thing she doesn’t remember, they were probably bipedal.

However, that wasn’t all. Once she evolved, Giratina deemed her worthy enough to bear upon a little bit of his power: Control of antimatter. Antimatter was a type of matter she remembered hearing about somewhere in her foggy memories. If it made contact with normal matter, it would explode. However, this kind of antimatter differed from the one she knew about. It had some sort of physical form that could convert itself into energy and couldn’t explode when in contact with matter. Not only that, but it could also power up her moves, which was quite neat.

The dragon also gave her the ability to travel to the Distortion World whenever with the ability to create portals to the realm. It was a helpful ability, if she ever got in a bad situation, she could always escape, recover then strike again. However, that ability wasn’t given to her as a gift, it was given to combat the distortions that were plaguing the Pokémon world.

Speaking of which…

There Alisson was, in a random forest sent to investigate the biggest distortion that the old dragon has felt so far. Usually, the distortions were random airflow changes, things disappearing along with some Pokémon which was quite concerning. It was then that the human-turned-Pokémon theorized that the distortion could’ve been portals and that they were appearing and disappearing throughout the world. It was then that their suspicions were confirmed once a creature they had never seen appeared and caused some chaos in a certain village. Thankfully, they managed to chase it out of the village and defeated it before a portal appeared and sucked the creature into it.

Just what was causing these portals to appear and why?

It was better for Alisson to not be pondering questions that she probably wouldn’t get an answer to. She was there to focus on a mission on what was probably the biggest portal that appeared until now. Just what kind of creature would come out of the portal this time? Would they be able to defeat it? She just had to hope it was not hostile, she barely won against the other interdimensional creature with the help of Giratina, and that’s saying something because they are one of the strongest Pokémon in the world.

The bipedal Pokémon took from her bag a handheld mirror and held it in front of her face, seeing her green-furred face and red eyes before speaking. “Giratina, can you hear me?”

Suddenly, the entire reflection of the mirror disappeared and a single red eye appeared, staring back at Alisson while being surrounded in darkness. “Yes, Alisson, I can hear you clearly.”

“Good. I just wanted to check if I’m going in the right way.” The green-furred Pokémon said while looking around the forest, seeing some wild bug types and flying types watching her from some bushes or tree branches.

“Yes, you’re on the right path.” The voice in the mirror confirmed. “However, remain cautious. I may not feel the distortion anymore, but I can feel a powerful creature nearby. If things go wary, don’t forget to contact me, alright?”

Alisson nodded. “Understood.” She then put the mirror away on her back and continued walking on a straightforward path. While walking she thought back to the time when she wasn’t training. She discovered a lot about this world and some odd peculiarities with it, probably because of her mysterious past. Even if some of the Pokémon look wild and sometimes had a territorial mentality, they had some pretty decent technology. What made it so odd is that some of the technology, like TVs and telephones, she saw somewhere in her past as she had recognized it. If the place she came from had those, she couldn’t tell because of her memory loss. Another odd thing is that the writing in this world is really strange… she didn’t recognize any letters of the alphabet or the words they were forming. However, it felt like she understood those either way.

Then, there were times when she read a certain book to gain more knowledge of the world, and an image of a certain old and rusty construct, that didn’t look to be Pokémon-made, would appear in the book. She didn’t know what they served for, but they felt familiar to her for some reason like she had seen them elsewhere.

So many familiar feelings yet no memories behind them…

Alisson was snapped out of her thoughts once she saw something between the trees, hidden between bushes. The green-furred Pokémon went through the bushes to find a rather big creature she had never seen before. It was a pitch-black being with lanky arms and legs and hands bigger than what his limbs would suggest. It looked completely made of crystals, with its face being colored crystals making what looks like its mouth and eyes. Its shoulders and head had spikes, along with a rather thick back. It kinda gave the vibes of a prism. The creature was currently laying on the ground, facing upwards and unmoving, it didn’t look like they were awake.

The green-furred Pokémon needed confirmation, so she pulled out the handheld mirror from her bag again and whispered to it. “Giratina, do you hear me?”

The reflection became pitch black once again, along with the appearance of the red eye once again. “Yes… I can hear you and feel a powerful presence nearby you…” Giratina whispered. “You reached it, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” Alisson whispered back, taking a quick glance and the prism creature. “It looks unconscious, and I don’t feel any hostility emanating out of it. What should I do with it?”

A thoughtful hum could be heard behind the mirror. “Try getting a closer look and analyze it. If it wakes up, check if it can speak and try gathering information. However, if it does attack, summon me instantly.”

The green-furred Pokémon nodded. “Alright.” She then put the mirror away before walking directly to the spiky black creature. When she got close, she analyzed its body, seeing edges that she couldn’t see before. ‘Just what could this creature be…?’

Suddenly, the colorful crystals in its face glowed a faint hue before the creature slowly but surely rose off the ground, levitating in place. Alisson got a bit startled by the creature and didn’t notice a small black tar-like substance falling off the creature and jumping on her paw, disappearing within her body. She jumped back a bit while staring at the creature who was staring at nowhere.

It started looking at her with an unreadable expression. She guessed that would be the case. The last creature they fought out of the village that last time was a creature made out of wires and LED lights, so she guessed anything was possible coming out of these portals. However, unlike the last creature, they spoke with an ethereal-like voice even without a mouth. “Salutations, native of this world. Can you understand me?”

Alisson was a bit taken aback by the revelation, her eyes widening for a moment before she calmed down. ‘Well, this makes the mission easier.’ She thought before responding, crossing her furry arms. “I was about to ask the same thing… can YOU understand me?”

“Well, I can, so at least there are some things in common.” It then put a huge claw over its chest and bowed. “I am pleased to meet you. My name is Necrozma, the bringer of light that illuminates even the darkest places of the entirety of Ultra Space.”

The human-turned-Pokémon tilted her head. “You… uh… don’t look like a being that brings the light.”

It stayed in silence for a moment before it looked at its claws and feet, its voice was filled with fear. “M-my… my light… it’s gone…” It then threw its claws into the air while shouting. “It’s GONE!!!” It floated around while turning its head around desperately, looking for something. “Where is it!? WHERE DID IT GO!?” It then dropped to the ground and curled on itself, almost sounding like it was sniffling. “I’m nothing without my light…”

From everything that Alisson thought about an interdimensional light being with a tremendous amount of power that even one of the strongest Pokémon of this world is cautious of… yep, this was the last thing she expected coming from this creature. She didn’t mind it though, at least it was not destroying everything around it.

Alisson approached Necozma and saw it whimpering and sniffling like a child. She carefully thought about her next words before eventually speaking them out loud. “Look, uh… Necrozma, I may not understand how it feels to…” She clasped her paws while looking aside. “... lose your light.” She then looked back at the alien being who uncovered its face and looked at the green-furred Pokémon. “But, if you like to… I might be able to help you find your light… somehow…”

An ethereal gasp could be heard as Necrozma started floating again and grabbed the Pokémon’s shoulders with its large claws, leaning close to her face. Alisson released an instinctual hiss from being startled, but the black prism creature didn’t notice. “Are you telling the truth!? Would you truly help me?”

The green-furred Pokémon looked aside for a moment in a bit of nervousness before looking back to Necrozma. “Sure… I like to help everyone in need, so maybe I can try helping you as well.” She said with a smile. “I even have a… friend that can probably help as well.”

The prism creature then took Alisson off the ground and spun around while holding her. “Thank you so much, native! I’m so entirely grateful for helping me find my precious, well, everything!”

“Uh… you’re welcome… I guess?” Alisson said a bit sheepishly before she was put down by the pitch-black being. She brushed her fur a bit before saying. “Alright, I’m gonna contact them, could you stay beside me?” Necrozma nodded before the green-furred Pokémon looked away and took out the handheld mirror again. “Giratina, I bring great news.”

The reflective object went pitch-black as the red eye of Giratina appeared on it. “What is it-” The eye turned to Necrozma, who waved back at the mirror. “... is that-…”

Alisson interrupted. “Yes, yes, it’s the being that came out of the portal and all of that. Look, I wanted to ask if I could bring Necrozma to the Distortion World to sort everything and maybe help it with its… situation.”

“You see, mirror native, I’ve lost my light and I need to find it to become whole again. So it would really help if you help me search for it!” The otherwordly being said.

“It also might give us clues as to why these portals are appearing…” Alisson whispered to the mirror, unbeknownst to Necrozma.

Giratina sighed. “Yes, you can… bring it here. Look… Necrozma, just behave yourself while you’re in this realm, alright? It is susceptible and would cause a lot of repercussions if one slight damage is done.”

The prism creature nodded and the green-furred Pokémon responded. “Alright, I’m bringing it there.”

As Alisson put away the mirror, Necrozma commented. “You know, it’s kinda rude calling me an It every time I’m being referred to. I’m a living being just like you guys as well!”

Alisson tried not to roll her eyes before looking back at the supposed light bringer. This being was weirdly surpassing all of her expectations, after all, who would’ve thought beings from other worlds would care about pronouns as well? “Oh? Then tell me, what kind of reproductive organ do you have? The male one or the female one?”

Necrozma stuttered a little before looking down between its legs. “U-uh…” It then looked back at Alisson. “I’m pretty sure I had both organs when I had all my light. So you can call me they once you refer to me, native!”

“It’s Alisson, Alisson Niijima. If you want formalities, call me Niijima-san” She said while crossing her arms, her expression deadpan.

“Ah…” Necrozma cleared their throat (somehow). “Um… that’s a weird way of saying miss…”

The green-furred Pokémon’s paw started being covered with a dark aura. “Yeah, like you, I’m also from another world as well. Although I don’t remember much of it, this is one of those things engraved in my mind. But anyways…” She grabbed her natural weapon, which was engraved with a string attached to her body, with her coated paw and swung it in front of her, making a drawing of a big circle in the air. The circle then turned into a portal that oozed a slight dark mist from the other side of the portal. Alisson put her weapon back in its place before looking at Necrozma, the prism being looking at it awestruck, and motioning to the portal with her paw. “You can go first.”

“Alrighty then.” They said happily before slowly floating into the portal, disappearing in the darkness.

Before Alisson entered the portal, a massive headache was made present in her head, making the green-furred Pokémon clutch her head in her paws. She grunted in pain as a voice, that sounded like multiple people talking, echoed throughout her mind.

Remember… you must remember…

“Wh-who are… you…?” Alisson groaned a reply, gritting her teeth. “R-remember what…?”

The hate… the anger within you. They are locked within your memories. To unleash your true potential, you need to remember and vanquish them from your soul.

“H-how…” She was to the point of kneeling, her muscles weakening a little. “How do I do that…?”

We can help you. However, we are not in this world currently. We reside in a place between universes called… Ultra Space. The being of light you have encountered is the key to Ultra Space. In the state that they are now, they cannot take you there. You have to awaken their slumbering form once again.

“What… do I need to do…?”

Seek after the Pokémon called Solgaleo and Lunala. Once they restore the light in Necrozma, you will have what it needs to enter Ultra Space. We shall give more instructions as you progress. Do not say anything about our talk to anyone. We are always watching.

The headache suddenly went away along with the weird voice. Alisson knelt on the ground, taking deep breaths to recover from what just happened. What was that voice? How did it know that she had lost memories? And how could it get said memories back?

Alisson was debating with herself if she should trust it or not. On one paw, she wanted that feeling of phantom familiarity to disappear forever so that she knew why everything felt so familiar and not familiar at the same time. But on the other paw, she barely knew the voice and could very well walk into a trap.

It was then that, suddenly, something that she never saw before flashed in front of her mind, resembling a scene. It appeared to be the vision of someone, seeing arms and hands, crossed legs, and a handheld device with two screens that felt familiar to the human-turned-Pokémon. And on the screen, there seemed to be pixelated representations of Pokémon.

Alisson grunted from the sudden memory that played in her head, taking a deep breath. That scene looked like it was someone playing a game of sorts. What was that game? And who was that person? Was that… her…? “That’s the last straw… I’m done having feelings like these without knowing anything about them.” She muttered before straightening her composure, looking back at the portal that was still open for some reason, even if she lost a lot of focus with that voice and the sudden meaningless memory. “I’m gonna get my memories back one way or another…”

With that, Alisson entered the portal and closed it behind her.

----------------------------------------

“MissingNo., I have a question.”

“What is it?”

John looked aside for a moment, fidgeting with his fingers as he took in the empty horizon of the dreamy beach. “So… I know that, like, Giratina has been keeping watch on you since… the early times of the universe, I guess.” He then looked back at the glitchy amalgamation, that he was used to seeing. “Do you know what you’re gonna do once he notices?”

The glitchy entity tapped a finger below its mouth as it thought. “Hm… interesting question.” It shrugged with its disembodied hands. “We don’t know. We just don’t know how they would react if they saw me in the normal realm. However, if they do see us as a threat, we suppose… we might have to retaliate.

John tilted his head, the blonde fringe falling to the side a little. “Wait, can’t you guys uh… talk it out…?”

MissingNo. looked aside. “Well… we could… if we haven’t been an annoyance for all these millennia when they were keeping watch of us, especially during the Dark Matter incident.” MissingNo. said while chuckling. John just stared at the glitchy being in confusion. “Oh yeah, you don’t know what Dark Matter even is.”

John crossed his arms. “Well, I know, it’s a type of matter in the laws of physics-”

“Wrong.”

“Wha-?”

MissingNo. shook a finger. “You might know of dark matter as a type of matter in your world, but in this world, Dark Matter is a being. It is a being formed by the negative emotions of Pokémon kind. It feeds off the negative energy of these emotions to grow stronger.”

John had a bead of sweat rolling off his cheek after hearing that. The way that MissingNo. talked about it, it didn’t even sound like a Pokémon but more like another being entirely. “Uh… this Dark Matter guy… does it feed off of every kind of negative emotion?”

MissingNo. lowered its head to the pool of static below it and responded. “Well, yes, but weak ones not that much since it doesn’t gain much strength out of them. However… grief, hate, depression, and jealousy are some of the strongest negative emotions it can feed off.”

“So… those are the feelings it gains the most strength from?” The human asked and the glitchy entity nodded. “But how can a being that feeds off negative emotions be defeated? Fight it with positive emotions?”

“We’re afraid that it isn’t as easy as it seems. Let us explain.” Suddenly, a whispy white orb that had small white petals and a singular eye appeared levitating on one of MissingNo.’s claws. “Pretend that this orb is Dark Matter. That’s not what it truly looks like, but it can take many forms and change it depending on the situation.” On another disembodied claw, two other small orbs appeared and took the shape of Pokémon John didn’t recognize, the glitchy entity bringing the two claws together and letting more space for the figures to stand on. “Let’s say that individuals are trying to fight Dark Matter’s physical body. Normally, it uses other beings to do its heavy work while it constructs and acts its malicious schemes in the background. But once they’re cornered, it won’t hesitate to strike back itself.” The mini figures on the claws started to fight against the orb as MissingNo. continued. “Normally, it can receive physical damage if you strike its body directly with any attack, however, it has a lot of resistance to those.” Wispy and colorful expressions of happy faces appeared around the two Pokémon figures. “To combat it, you need to have a lot of positive emotions to weaken its defenses until its core is fully exposed. Then you can destroy it for good.”

John listened to that entire explanation curiously while crossing his arms. “Huh… so I was right in some way?”

MissingNo.’s smile grew wider in delight. “Yes, you were. However, there’s one thing I must tell you no matter what. Even if you manage to kill it, it won’t die completely. As long as negative emotions exist, it will come back in the future in a different way but still with malicious intentions.”

“I… I see…” The human said while looking aside a bit nervous. Now that was worrisome. If that entity kept coming back over and over again, that meant that other humans from the past have fought it since it was probably a world-national threat. Would that mean that he would have to fight it someday-

Nope, he was summoned there by accident. There were other humans here aside from him, maybe they would have to fight it, not him!

Suddenly, John started to have faint white wisps of light leaving his body. “Ah, my time has come.” He said with a hint of satire in his voice.

MissingNo. chuckled before waving with its claws and Pokémon limbs. “See you in the next dream, John.”

Without any further delay, the human’s body burst into white wisps, disappearing from the dream.

----------------------------------------

“Bye Mom, bye Dad!” Claire shouted while dashing out of the house, John clinging on to her fur as he tried not to fall off from the Vulpix’s head. At least he could use the bag she was carrying as a “passenger seat” if she ever went too fast.

“Bye, kids! Have fun out there!” Izo said with a grin, waving a paw at them while coming out of the door of the house with his mate.

“Take care of yourselves, and be careful out there!” Reya shouted as her tails swished behind her.

With that, John and Claire were on the way to the fire fox’s battle class. The Joltik was a little wary of going out with the Vulpix. On one hand, it seemed fun watching Pokémon train with each other in Claire’s battle class since it could be used as a learning experience for the Joltik. On the other hand, John was a bit skeptical and nervous about going. It wasn’t because he was scared of being found out as a human, but because of what happened last Saturday. Claire was attacked by a Corrupted Pokémon and badly wounded by who’s probably the Pokémon working with the bad ones.

John just couldn’t stop thinking if there would be some kind of pattern forming. Sure, you can’t just think it’ll happen again for sure after just one time. But, he was still concerned if it would happen again since he was with her this time, and like Mark had said, humans are trouble magnets after all.

The little spiderling shook his head. He shouldn’t be thinking about the negatives of the situation, he has been thinking like that for a long time and, honestly, it just brought more stress rather than bringing him a feeling of safety. He should just wait and see what would happen rather than just imagine infinite bad possibilities of what could happen.

The jog, that slowly turned to a walk over time, to the dojo was uneventful at best. Claire didn’t need the GPS on her phone this time since she knew the location by heart. They were walking down some streets before eventually taking a turn where the gravel-made street became a dirt-made one like a trail. The houses slowly started to appear less and less as trees and bushes started taking over the scenery.

Along the path, John started spotting some Pokémon, bug type Pokémon, staring back at them or minding their own business as they crawled around the trees, the Joltik starting to shiver a little. His fear of bugs didn’t completely leave him after making up with his tarantula mother. He might not act like a little kid struggling to slap away his most hated food when a bug type approached him anymore, but he sure didn’t like looking at or even touching a bug type. He wasn’t even sure how he managed to hug his mother even with that fear he had, probably the work of his baby instincts that yearned for motherly love and care.

“Something on your mind, John?”

The Joltik was snapped from his thoughts and looked down, paying attention to the source of the voice. “Ah, it’s nothing. Just thinking about some minor things.” He then looked at the path in front of him and asked. “Hey, are we close?”

“Oh, yes! I’ve been to Ginikofu’s dojo a lot of times already to know even the exact distance!” Claire gloated, a grin forming on her muzzle.

“So tell me, what is the exact distance between the dojo and your house?” John asked.

The Vulpix’s grin dropped, looking in a certain direction to hide her uncertainty. “Uh… probably, like, um… five… five kilometers?”

The spiderling made a thinking face before mentally shrugging. “Eh, seems plausible. I’ll let this one pass.” The two Pokémon started chuckling for a moment before John asked. “So… what is your teacher like? I’m kinda curious.”

Claire piped up. “Oh, he’s such a nice ‘mon! I and the class call him Mr. Kofu, and he basically runs the entire dojo along with his wife. Although he may seem nice from the outside… he is kinda scary when he battles.”

“Sheesh, that sounds like a guy whose bad side is best to remain hidden…” John commented.

“I never really saw his bad side… I don’t even think he has one.” The six-tailed fox said with a smirk. Before John could comment on it, Claire spoke again. “Oh, and we’re here!”

John looked in the direction where Claire was staring and released an “Oh.” of realization. The dojo had the appearance of a two-floored and square-shaped building, having two round doors at the entrance that made a semicircle together, two round windows on each floor, and two roof tiles on each floor, the top one being more cone-shaped. For the Joltik, it almost looked like a miniature version of an old Japanese palace. “Damn… this place looks uh… really nice and kinda similar to one type of building in my world.” John looked aside and thought. ‘All that’s left is for this Kofu guy to be a damn samurai.’

“Oh really? Then you might feel right at home here!” Claire said enthusiastically before walking inside the building, sliding the two doors with a bit of ease.

The inside of the building was at least something different rather than a stylized Japanese-like design than the Joltik was expecting. The walls were painted with a deep blue, the strokes of paint making the ink feel like actual water; white and red pillars supported the upper floor; and a ceiling that was colored a light blue with some white that represented the clouds. From a simple glance at the painting of the building, John could immediately tell what the theme of the dojo was.

Looking around more, the Joltik saw some basic dojo equipment. Some targets were placed on the walls, some sandbags hung from the metal beams near the ceiling, and some dummies were shaped like various Pokémon. They weren’t alone in the dojo, however, there were some other Pokémon as well. The Pokémon were a greenish and floating spherical being with some kind of green bubble enveloping their body, they almost looked like a cell in those picture books. The next Pokémon was a large red centipede, with a pair of legs in each segment and what looked like a flaming mustache on their front, the same fire pattern appearing on the end of their body. And the last Pokémon seen training in the dojo was a small and bipedal spiky rodent that had a brown and cream-furred face and torso, having small green needles on their back. All three of them were Pokémon the little spiderling didn’t recognize, and the one that terrified him the most was the fire centipede, the reasons being very obvious. Fun fact! He feared centipedes the most out of any bug.

Claire tried to look up at John as she asked. “Pretty neat, isn’t it?”

John stayed silent for a second before eventually responding. “Yeah, uh…” He eyed the flaming centipede for a moment. “It is… sure.”

“Claire!”

The duo looked at the source of the gruff and welcoming voice along with the other Pokémon that were training. They saw a blue four-legged otter walking in Claire and John’s direction, he looked old with their scars and a bit of wrinkle in the skin beneath the fur, bits and chips of the shells on his legs and head missing and some spikes on his horn a bit broken, and a trimmed white mustache and tuft on his muzzle. He stopped in front of the fox and the spiderling and smiled. “Claire, it’s so good to see you here perfectly healthy!”

“Hi, Master Kofu!” Claire said ecstatically before grinning. “I’m ready for another class today, perfectly recovered from the wound from last Saturday!” She said before snorting some flames from her snout.

“That’s good to hear!” The samurai otter said with a nod.

John just kept staring while the other two conversed. Damn, his prediction was right, the guy that runs the dojo was literally a samurai. The otter looked a bit old, having a lot of battle experience under his belt (or shell for a better word), which was expected for a wise teacher like him.

“And who might be this little fella on your head?”

This question snapped John from his thoughts, realizing that Kofu was looking at him now. But before he could better grasp reality and respond, the fire fox answered for him. “Oh, this is a friend I met recently, he’s civilized by the way. His name is John and he’s a… really smart Joltik!” The spiderling jumped off of Claire’s head and landed between the teacher and the student. “John, meet Master Kofu, a Samurott.”

John looked at the prominent otter samurai and shuddered a little at the sheer size of the Pokémon up close. If Claire felt like a bus in size, Kofu felt like a plane. He suppressed a shudder before eventually lifting a nub. “H-hi… nice to meet you.”

There was a small surprised reaction appeared on the Samurott’s face. “Oh, you can… speak?”

John hesitantly nodded. “Just uh… having a smaller body than usual, but I’m pretty developed.” He lied with a sheepish smile.

Kofu stroked his mustache a little with his paw. “Interesting.” He then tilted his head. “Have you come to watch Claire train?”

“Yep. Just came because of boredom and because of… reassurance.” John looked aside after saying that last part.

“Ah, I know what you’re talking about. It was hard seeing one of my students in that state while carrying her to the town.” The Samurott said while looking away for a moment before piping up, looking back at them. “But let’s not remind ourselves of that moment, what happened in the past stays in the past after all.” He then looked at the Joltik. “Hey, I have a question. How good are you in a fight?”

John made a thinking look before shrugging with his body. “I’m only good when I’m defending myself. I, uh… don’t fight very often.”

“Ah, I see. Perfectly normal for a Joltik. But say… instead of just watching your friend fight, would you like to join Claire in her training?” Kofu offered with a smile.

Claire gasped, her tails starting to wag a little. “Are you for real, Master Kofu!?”

The master of the dojo nodded. “Yep, the little guy here can participate in this class, that is, if he wants to.” He then looked back at John. “So, what do you say, John?”

John looked away as he thought about it. He wouldn’t like to reveal his abilities to other Pokémon he wasn’t familiar. On one hand, he would risk exposing his true identity, on the other hand, this training may help in future battles without having strong enemies just give up on battling and sparing his life. He just couldn’t be eyed with pity by the enemy, he needed to get stronger somehow if he wanted to survive in this harsh world.

With the new decision in mind, he nodded at the Samurott. “Alright, I’d like to participate in this class.”

Kofu grinned. “Sweet!” He then started walking to the center of the room before he called out. “Everyone!” The other Pokémon who were currently training stopped what they were doing and gathered around the samurai otter, John and Claire following suit. “Today is a special class. Claire has recovered from her injury and can attend class!” Kofu said before motioning to the Vulpix with a paw as she wagged her fan of tails. “Not only that, we have a guest attending this class.” The Joltik sighed and walked forward, letting the other dojo students see him. “This little fella here is John. I know he might not look like much but don’t underestimate a Pokémon just by their size alone.”

“Oh, it’s always nice having another bug type in the same place as another one!” The flaming centipede said with a gruff voice after coiling up on himself, looking at John. “Isn’t that right little one?”

The Joltik took a single step back and looked aside, trying to subtly hide his disgust and shiver. “Y-yeah…”

“Yo, you can speak?” The rodent asked while tilting his head.

Claire stepped up and responded to the spiderling. “Yep, he can. He’s a bit shy so… don’t expect him to talk as much.”

The Solosis floated up to John, the bubble around their body rippling as they made slight movements. They spoke with a high-pitched female voice. “Nice to meet you, John. My name is Dina!”

The Chespin grinned and crossed his arms, speaking with a boyish voice. “Name’s Chester! Let’s see if ya have nice moves!”

The Centiskorch uncurled himself and raised the front half of his body, showing his non-fear-inducing legs. “Call me Scorge, happy to have you.”

John sheepishly waved a nub after all of the greetings before his attention was focused on Kofu as he cleared his throat. “Now that we are more properly introduced, let’s start with the class. Let’s begin with the stretches. After all, we need our body as flexible as possible to not let any crankiness or muscle cramps interrupt us when we are battling!” He proudly said before stretching his paws, one at a time.

John raised an invisible eyebrow and started looking around at the other students. Everybody began stretching their limbs, even the centipede was doing it with his many legs. Although the cell Pokémon was… uh… well if she was pretending she was stretching a part of her body then she was doing pretty well then. Eventually, the Joltik sighed and started doing his stretches as well with his small limbs.

It felt weird trying to extend his limbs to distances he never tried to reach, his fuzzy legs always felt so cramped and curled up, but at the same time, he felt he could bend them in unnatural ways. Well… if Pokémon could bend their limbs a bit further than normal humans and animals can, he supposed it was normal he felt this way, hell, maybe with enough practice he could finally be able to touch his own back.

After a moment, everyone stopped their stretching and Kofu nodded and spoke again. “Alright everyone, now that we’re all set up, let’s go to our training. Now, “What are we gonna do today?” you may be asking yourselves. Today, we’re gonna learn how to strengthen moves that we already know.” The students gathered next to each other in front of the Samurott, John making sure that he was as far away from Scorge as possible. “But it’s not about strengthening the move you have by just adding more power to it, no. It’s about finding new ways to use the move to make it more effective in a certain situation instead of just using the move normally. Now, has anyone here managed to do that on their own?” With that, John looked around for a moment before slowly raising a nub. “Oh, you already did, John?”

As everyone in the class started looking at the Joltik, Claire responded proudly to him with a smile. “He’s not only managed to make one but two moves out of the moves he knows!”

The other students looked at the little spiderling with a shocked expression, Chester being the first to comment. “He did WHAT!?!?”

“I barely evolved and I still wasn’t able to make a move of my own and you already did two!?” The Centiskorch asked in disbelief as they leaned a bit closer to John, the greenish spiderling taking a step back in response.

“How did you do it!?” Dina asked as well as she floated in closer to John.

Kofu cleared his throat again and waved a paw. “Alright settle down, we wouldn’t like to overwhelm our guest here.” The students leaned away from the Joltik who breathed a sigh of relief. “Although, I’m a bit intrigued as well. You look quite small for someone of your species and you can talk as well. Are you just smaller than the average Joltik or an actual prodigy?” He asked while caressing his mustache.

John hesitated a little before saying. “Just uh… the latter. I could just adapt and learn earlier than others.” He decided to go against lying about his age because he couldn’t decide on a single age to go with, and if he would talk to a person he already told a fake age and said that he was another age, then things would go pretty badly to his side.

“I see… would you care to demonstrate at least one of the moves you have managed to do until now?” The samurai otter requested, motioning a paw to the handful of dummies and targets that varied in shape and size that were spread around the dojo.

The Joltik stared at them for a moment before nodding. “Alright.” He walked towards a target hanging from a ceiling, the usual marks that archers use for practice like in those movies. He sighed before looking behind him, seeing everyone currently in the room staring at him like they were expecting something grandiose from him, except for the Vulpix who was cheery as always to him.

He looked back at the target and thought about what move he should use first. After some thinking, he decided that he would do the Grappling Silk move first since it was the first one he managed to do after all. He gathered the bug-type power from his core in his mouth, his bug cheeks inflating a little from the silk manifesting in the inside of his mouth. The Joltik then released a thick thread of silk that consisted of multiple tiny strands, the String Shot latching on the target. While the other Pokémon (except Claire) watched in confusion, he then pulled the string, catapulting himself into the air and falling directly to the target. Since the target was being chained from the ceiling, the platform John was standing on was shaking quite a lot because of the pull and his landing, almost making the Joltik lose balance although not falling. After the target stopped shaking, he looked back at the others while saying. “That was Grappling Silk, basically String Shot but as an option for faster movement.”

The Chespin had stars in his eyes from how they shimmered from awe. “That was so… awesome!”

“A String Shot made for movement? Wow, I wished I learned how to do that when I was a Sizzlepede…” Scorge admitted as they looked at John in admiration.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Incredible, shall I say, masterful even!” Kofu beamed, walking up to John with a smile on his muzzle. “It seems you weren’t really kidding when you knew how to use moves in another way!”

John started to look away in embarrassment. “Yeah…”

The Samurott then looked at the other students while John hopped off the target. “This is what I mean by strengthening the moves you already know, students! If the move isn’t working in a specific situation, try thinking outside the box to better your odds in a battle. Understood?”

The four Pokémon trainees nodded and said in unison. “Yes, Master Kofu!”

“Good then. Now, I’m gonna give you guys some time off so you can practice and think what’s the best thing to do for your moves. You can also try and teach your classmates some moves you might know that could be useful to them. So have at it while I go to the bathroom and take care of some minor paperwork. Shouldn’t take that long.” The Samurott said before walking out of the main room and going to a hallway that supposedly led to the restrooms.

John sighed and muttered to himself. “At least that wasn’t that bad…”

“Hey there!”

John flinched before looking at the source of the voice, seeing the flaming centipede crawling closer to him with his body leaned down. Seeing that caused an instinctual jump, making the little Joltik back away. “U-uh… p-please don’t do that.” ‘Of all the Pokémon here of course it had to be the centipede wanting to talk to me…’

Scorge lifted the upper section of his body, revealing his underside, many legs, and of course, his bug mandibles. “Oh, did I scare you?” He frowned while he asked. “Sorry, I can’t help it, it’s just how I walk. But it’s expected that you would feel scared, you’re a Joltik after all.”

John looked away in embarrassment. “Y-yeah, I guess..” Well, at least his racism with the bugs of this world can be masked by just an instinct of the species he reincarnated as. “So… was there something you wanted to talk to me about rather than train like the others are doing?”

The Centiskorch looked behind him and saw the other Pokémon training with the targets and dummies. Chester released his needles from his body and launched them at a target like missiles; Dina released a small beam of psychic energy at a dummy; and Claire made three purple fireballs appear floating around her, making them fly into a spiral in the air and hit the target she was aiming for with her pyrokinesis. Scorge then looked back at the Joltik and nodded. “Yes, I wanted to know something about you. Since you’re a Joltik, the other move you know is Electroweb, right?”

John hesitated for a moment, asking himself how the Centiskorch knew that. However, he remembered that move is a common move among Joltik and they learn at an early age. “Uh… yes, I know that one and before you ask, it’s the other modified move I know.”

“Oh, I wasn’t about to ask about the other modified move. I was gonna ask another thing.”

The little spiderling tilted his head. “Then what is it you wanted to ask?”

Scorge clicked his mandibles, humming before asking. “Do you know the move Bug Bite?” Just from the look on the Joltik’s face, it could be noticed he knew jack shit about what was said to him. “Huh, thought you knew about it already. But anyways, it’s a strong bug-type move that might be useful for when you’re trying to damage with a powerful bite.”

“So… I basically just bite the enemy?”

The flaming centipede nodded. “Yeah, with the help of your core of course. The bite might not be useful on its own, but they become more powerful when combined with your second typing. I used to use it a lot before I evolved and it worked wonders in my battles.” He winked at the Joltik. “So there’s a small tip from your senior.”

“Well, erm… thanks.” John said while forcing out a smile as best as a Joltik could. In his head, he thought about a new move. He already had a nice attacking move for when the enemy was at a certain distance, almost like having a weapon. However, it had the same drawbacks as weapons. If the enemy closed up on him quickly, he would have no time to pull out his Electro Whip before the enemy crushed him like the bug that he was. So having an attacking move he could just do it when crawling up in the enemy’s body would be useful… however…

Blergh, that would be so disgusting. He’d have to taste the flesh of other Pokémon just to attack them. Sure he’d already bitten two beings before, that being Taro and that human criminal. But he wasn’t really thinking straight to register what he just had done, being driven by hunger and anger on two completely different occasions. But when he was thinking straight and strategizing to win a battle, he would be feeling the taste, the texture, and even the flavor of the raw skin or scales of Pokémon.

He debated if he should just shrug off learning the move. He realized that he had no other options, he should learn it to boost his odds of winning a battle with a bigger foe. A new move meant a new skill for his survival in this crazy world.

John sighed and thought. ‘Guess I have no choice in this…’

Kofu hadn’t come back yet and Scorge went to train with the others. Seeing the other train, John decided that he should probably go train as well to try and see what this new move was all about.

The Joltik grappled onto one of the dummies and zipped away to it, landing on the wooden and hay-made surface of the dummy. John analyzed the giant training doll below him, humming in thought as he tried to think of a way to make the move work. He had drawn out power from the bug side of his core multiple times when he used his Grappling Silk, like it was almost like another type of muscle memory that was engraved in his mind like auto-pilot.

Surely drawing out the bug-type power from his core just to increase the pain of a bite would be easy, right?

‘You never know when you don’t try.’ The Joltik crawled to the head of the dummy and stopped on its forehead. He took a deep breath before opening his mouth and highlighting his fangs, His fangs started letting out sparks of electricity, a green glow starting to surround the fangs as the Joltik drew power from his core. He then brought down the fangs into the dummy’s forehead, sparks running around it as John bit it.

John then released his fangs from it, trying to spit out the awful and dry taste of hay and wood plaguing his mouth. “Ugh, never doing that again on a dummy…” He muttered to himself before a thought dawned on his mind. What kind of microbes were lurking around in this world, hell what even kind of viruses exists in this world? He had just gotten rid of Covid a month ago, he couldn’t get an even worse disease right after a deadly one. ‘I’ll uh… I’ll just use this move as a last resort...’

The spiderling then saw the Samurott coming out of the hallways and entering the main room. He cleared his throat before calling out. “I’m back, everyone!” The other students stopped throwing out seed bullets, fireballs, and other types of moves and gathered in front of the teacher.

“Welcome back, Master Kofu!” The students said except for the guest.

The otter smiled and asked the trainees. “How did the self-training go for everyone?”

“I figured out how tah do some amazing things with mah bullet seed! It now can cover a large area!”

“Didn’t get much progress with my psychokinesis, but I think I’m getting somewhere.”

“Same progress with me and my fire, although I made the flames around my mandibles more flexible and more bendable.”

“I thought of something amazing with my Will-o-Wisp but I want to keep it a small secret!”

The Samurott then looked at the spiderling, expecting something from him. The Joltik took a second to realize that he wanted to know if he learned something new. “I uh… learned how to bite… I guess?”

Kofu stroked his mustache before nodding in approval. “I appreciate seeing the dedication you put into your training. I can already tell that, with the experience you gained today, your battles will become easier in the future. Now then…” He motioned his head to the stairs behind him. “I think it’s time for a little training between yourselves, how about it?”

The students nodded as John tilted his head. Kofu was already leading the students to the stairs and John followed suit by jumping on Claire’s head. Still curious about what the Samurott was talking about, he asked the fire fox while whispering. “Hey, what did he mean by that last part?”

As the Vulpix started to ascend the stairs, she chuckled and whispered back. “You’ll see. I think it’ll help on battles for when you’re on your own.”

John frowned a little. “Alright then…?”

As they reached the second floor, the Joltik took in his new surroundings as he tried to piece what the heck they were gonna do now. The second floor had a similar design to the first one, the walls and ceiling being the same color as the other floor. However, instead of dummies and targets, there was a single rectangular field (that looked like an orange soccer field) covering most of the floor. Besides the arena, there was a desk with a Pokémon sitting on it and writing something on a sheet of paper. The Pokémon resembled a humanoid flower figure, with the lower half of her body being leafy and having no legs while the upper half had white skin and a large bush of blue flowers wrapped around her neck. For John, that looked like a Pokémon he would probably hit Smash if he played a hypothetical smash or pass game with Pokémon.

But of course, he would never… even if his friends forced him to play that one time but with a different game.

The humanoid flower Pokémon looked at the group, specifically Kofu who was walking towards her. She smiled and kissed the Samurott on the head when he reached the desk before looking at the group behind him. “Oh, today is one of those days?” The flower being asked.

Kofu nodded. “Yes, it is my love. Would you like to be the referee for the battles and the healer just in case?”

She giggled. “Sure, love.”

Meanwhile, John whispered to Claire with a question. “Is that Pokémon his wife?”

The Vulpix nodded and whispered. “Her name is Artemis, she’s a Florges.”

John nodded in understanding, seeing the teacher enter the arena-like field.

Kofu looked at the students and spoke loudly. “Everyone, it is time for you to put the training you did to the test! Of course, you won’t have complete mastery of your abilities just yet, however, you can count this event as the second part of your training, to see how would they fare in a real fight!”

The Joltik was slowly beginning to realize what this was about and the reason behind the arena, although, he asked anyways just to be sure. “Are we… are we gonna be fighting you?”

“Oh no, putting a teacher against their students in either a battle of knowledge or raw strength, the students would have no chance. So, that’s why you will be battling each other one on one!” John felt his heart sink a little after he heard that. “Speaking of which, how about you against Claire for the first match?” John’s heart sunk into a level that he never thought was possible.

“... w-what…?” He let out in an almost inaudible volume.

“Ooh, it’s weird that we never sparred until now, it was about time to change that, don’t you think?” The Vulpix asked as she started walking to the arena.

“I… I guess…” John muttered before jumping off Claire’s head, seeing her walk to the other side of the soccer-like arena.

John was absolutely terrified of what was about to happen. He knew that one day Claire would want to battle him just to see the power of a human. But when she stopped being that obsessed with them, he thought that he wouldn’t need to worry about that anymore.

Welp, here they were, ready to beat each other, AKA, Claire burning him until only a pile of ashes remain.

He wasn’t that scared of entering battles, he had a lot of battles already with his new body so he was pretty used to the idea of them being a frequent thing in the Pokémon world. However, all of the battles he entered so far were with a team of Pokémon aiding him in battle, but this time, he wasn’t gonna receive any help from anyone.

The Joltik got hurt many times already, getting flung around, getting crushed by a ball, receiving an explosion to the face, and fucking living. So yeah, getting burned to ashes won’t be as bad as the other times he got hurt, sure the flames will be agony, but he can handle it… hopefully.

The Samurott walked out of the small arena and looked at both battlers, the eager-looking Vulpix and the scared shitless-looking Joltik. For a bit of reassurance, Kofu said to John. “Hey, John.” The small spiderling looked at the otter. “If you are scared of being burned in the process, I’ll spray a quick jet of water on you to extinguish the flames, how about that?”

John stuttered a little while nodding. “Y-yeah, that’d be appreciated.” He then looked back at Claire, seeing a grin on her face.

“Are you ready John?” She asked while lowering the front of her body and spreading out her fan of tails a little like she was ready to pounce.

“Y-yes…” ‘Ready to get my ass to the hospital that is.”

Artemis got up from her chair and floated to the side of the arena, looking at both sides while tilting her head at John for a small moment. She then looked back to the middle of the field and raised an arm. “If both sides are ready, you can begin the fight…” John and Claire tensed as the fairy referee paused for a small moment before bringing her arm down. “Now!”

John suppressed a gulp, focusing on the Vulpix’s actions. Claire started by launching an Inferno from her mouth, the fireball traveling directly to the spiderling’s location. John, fortunately, didn’t become a deer in front of headlights and hopped away from the fireball that created a small pillar of flame once in contact with the floor. John didn’t even bother looking at the damage that the fireball caused. As he learned from many pieces of media, focus on the enemy not everything around you. Although, he found it a little weird that Claire didn’t open with her Will-o-Wisp attack.

The Joltik started running towards Claire before hopping in the air and summoning an Electro Whip from his mouth, swinging his head to strike the vixen with his weapon. He could even hear the sounds of awe from the small crowd at the side of the arena. Claire dodged the paralyzing whip and looked at the sparks that it let out once it struck the floor. John landed on the ground, whip still out, and whipped at Claire’s leg once she looked back at the spiderling, the Electro Whip wrapping around her leg and causing static to run through her body.

“Ngh!” Claire let out while gritting her teeth.

‘Now’s my chance! Better test out my Paralyzing Bug Bite (name still pending) at her because at least I know she showers.’ John thought as he released the whip from his mouth before looking at the ceiling, shooting a String Shot at it, and pulling the thread to catapult himself into the air. After reaching a certain altitude, he started falling directly at the Vulpix as he began to build up power in his fangs.

Suddenly, Claire grinned as she looked back at John. “Surprise!” Suddenly, the ghostly-looking fireballs of Will-o-Wisp appeared not around Claire but in front of her, forming an X-shaped barrier. John’s eyes went wide, knowing full well that there was no way to strafe in the air to change the direction of his fall nor any time to just grapple away.

John braced before going through the flames and landing on Claire’s head. The Joltik started feeling his entire body burn from the inside out, he could even feel the agony of the flames being present throughout his very soul. He grunted loudly before jumping off of the Vulpix’s head spasming and thrashing his body around to get rid of the fire… that wasn’t even there.

Claire burned the electric whip from her leg as the paralysis around her body dissipated. “It worked!” Claire turned to the spiderling with a smile. “And you fell directly right into my Will-o-Shield!”

As he was busy fighting invisible flames, he managed to let out. “C-cheap… cheap trick!”

“I mean… it’s supposed to be like that or else the opponent wouldn’t get closer…” The Vulpix said with a shrug. “But anyways, guess I win-”

Suddenly, the Joltik’s eyes filled with static for a brief second with a faint red glow coming from them, making Claire flinch. Suddenly, John stopped thrashing and struggling, looking at the Vulpix silently before asking while he was upside down. “Something wrong?”

“Wha- what was…”

“The match is over.” Artemis suddenly called out, raising an arm. “Claire wins by a timeout.”

John looked at the fairy referee and sighed. “As expected…” John rolled onto his feet and looked at Claire with a smile on his fuzz. “Honestly, even if I’m a bit mad that I got fooled that easily by that move, that’s a nice tactic. It’s definitely gonna be useful in a later battle.”

The Vulpix looked confused and a little concerned. She opened her mouth before shutting it and looking at the other Pokémon in the room. She then looked at John with a sheepish smile. “Yeah… thanks…”

The Joltik tilted his head a little at the sudden tone shift of her voice. But before he could ask a question, Kofu spoke up. “Well students, a bit of an anti-climatic battle, I know. But remember, we’re doing this for training purposes only. So no one here will get badly injured.” As he talked, the duo of Joltik and Vulpix left the arena. “Now, who’s next on the list?”

----------------------------------------

The battle class was over and John and Claire were on the way to the park to meet up with the rest of Team Net.

Currently, they were on the woody path that leads back to the gravel streets of Burgroth, taking it nice and slow because of all the training and battle they did in the class.

John felt that it was an enjoyable experience. He managed to learn a new (and disgusting) technique that will help in the next battles… if he finds an opponent that’s not that smelly or dirty. Claire, however…

The Vulpix thought that the class has been a fun experience as usual. It was even more fun when she learned how to do a new technique and even fight John for the first time. The human-turned-Joltik used his small size and jumpy nature to his advantage in battle, not only that, he also has the mind of a human which makes his tactics in battle feel so different than most Pokémon. However, Claire figured out a way to outsmart him and use her “new” move at John, making his soul feel like it was burning. She would’ve put the flames away after she won, however, something strange happened…

The Vulpix saw John’s eyes fill with that weird glitch energy for a moment, and the next thing she knew, the Joltik looked like everything was fine for him, even if he felt like he was burning seconds ago. At that moment, Claire completely lost control of the flames, as if they disappeared from one moment to another.

Why did that happen? Did MissingNo. wake up momentarily just because it felt that John was in danger or did John do that on his own? Did he even notice it? Well… they were alone now, so Claire could probably ask about it. “Hey, John?”

The Joltik looked down. “Yeah?”

“Uh… during our fight, what was that all about?”

He tilted his head in confusion. “What was what?”

The Vulpix answered. “After you got fell for the Will-o-Shield, you got burned spiritually, right?” John nodded. “How did you get rid of the burning sensations?”

“I didn’t get rid of them. They just went out on their own.” He responded.

Claire stayed silent for a moment before responding. “Ah… I see.” So he wasn’t the one controlling the glitch energy, then it was probably MissingNo., although, that didn’t soothe her worries at all. If she remembered correctly, John told them that if the glitch Pokémon was awake, he would slowly turn into a glitch Pokémon as well. What if he was slowly turning into a glitch Pokémon right at this moment? The Vulpix gulped. “J-John… do you feel uh… strange?”

The Joltik lifted an invisible eyebrow. “Uh… strange in what way?”

“I dunno, like, do you feel certain urges, or does your body feel weird in a way that’s uh… not normal?”

John looked up as he mulled over the question. “Well… aside from everything that came with this body after turning into a Joltik… no, I feel fine, even if I’m in a body that makes me cringe a little bit every time I look in a mirror.”

Claire released a small sigh of relief. “That’s good at least.”

“Where’s all of this concern coming from?”

The vixen sheepishly smiled as she tried to look at the bug on top of her head. “Oh, you know, just a friend concerned for another friend. After all, after everything we’ve been through, you could be feeling a bit off, right?”

“Well, you’re right. But no worries, I’m alright.” John then looked around before eventually saying. “Uh… sorry to bring the mood down but… wasn’t this the moment when you got attacked by that Corrupted Pokémon last Saturday?”

The Vulpix tensed a little bit, her ears flicking from one side to another as she looked around. “Yes… it was…” The duo tensed for a moment as Claire stopped walking, focusing on her surroundings with their eyes and auditory senses sharp.

After an agonizing moment of silence minus the chirping of flying types, they noticed that nothing was happening, making them relax a little. John sighed in relief. “Well, lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place, as they say…”

“Unless you’re fighting an electric type then it’s the opposite.” Claire said with a chuckle, trying to lighten up the mood. “Anyways, I’ll quicken the pace before I get another string of anxiety because of a Corrupted Pokémon.”

“Alright then.” John said with a nod.

It wasn’t long until the spider and fox duo got to Burgroth once again. The town has gotten more lively now that it was afternoon, Pokémon walking around everywhere they looked. Without any delay, Claire walked towards the small park in the town.

Burroth Park was the center of the town, where a lot of Pokémon went to do various things; relaxing, hanging out with friends, and lots of other activities. There was even a battle court for the battle-hungry ‘mons to duke it out just for fun (or most of the time, bets). There were several stands of food plastered around the place, ready to attend to any hungry Pokémon who was walking around.

Claire had been here multiple times with her family. It was the best tourist spot for any Pokémon who just wanted to visit the town or a friend that lives here. She remembered the good memories of this place, even the recent bad ones when her sister suddenly started bullying her. However, she didn’t think too much about those memories and only focused on the good ones, hoping that one day, everything would turn back the way it was, but with John this time on their family!

It didn’t take much longer for the duo to reach the spot that Claire had planned for the meeting. It was an isolated spot from the rest of the park, next to an abandoned building. The area had a round table with some seats lined up next to it, away from the majority of the stands and hotspots.

Truly, the perfect place to host a secret meeting with no chances of eavesdropping.

The rest of Team Net was already there, sitting at the table. Amy was looking in the distance rather pensive along with Taro, Popo, and Nana, The Togedemaru messing on his phone with a smile on his face while the Tandemaus eating ice cream with the same emotionless expression they always wear. That thoughtful look was on Amy’s face when Claire went to discuss the meeting with her and the rest. She asked about it, however, the Shaymin told her not to worry about it and left it at that. Just what was causing her to act like this?

Claire and John approached the group, the Joltik jumping on the table. “Hey guys, we’re here!” Claire announced, making the others look at them.

Amy smiled as she looked at them. “Oh, hi John, hi Claire. You were the last ones to arrive so we were just waiting for you guys.”

Taro looked aside as he put away his phone, muttering to himself. “At least they didn’t see me screaming when the twins appeared…”

John tilted his head as he looked at Taro, having heard a little bit of what the spiky mouse said. “Saw you what?”

Taro squeaked a little. “N-nothing!”

Popo and Nana looked at the Togedemaru. “Warn us next time.” “Boomburst is a dangerous move.” “And your species is not even supposed to learn that move.”

Amy giggled a little, Claire chuckling along with the Shaymin. “Really, Taro? Didn’t know you could use Boomburst.” The Vulpix teased a little.

Taro blushed and stuttered a little. “C-cut it out!”

John snickered a bit before speaking up. “Anyways, let’s start this meeting, shall we?” Everyone looked at John before nodding. The Joltik cleared his throat. “So, Claire and I called a friend of mine from the human world, since he’s a big Pokémon enthusiast in my world.”

“Wait, is he a human?” Taro asked, receiving a nod from the Togedemaru. “How come you never told us about him?”

John looked aside a bit ashamed. “Uh… I kinda forgot to with all the shit that’s been going on recently…”

Popo took a step forward. “Can we meet him?” Nana followed her male twin. “Can we know his greatest fear?” “Can we baptize him into following the Great One, guiding him to the path of enlightenment?”

John stared at them for a moment before sighing and eventually saying. “Firstly, I don’t know. Secondly, no. And thirdly, absolutely not. Religion is a finicky thing on Earth and I don’t want to divide that more than it already is.”

The Tandemaus limped, still showing no expression on their faces. “Awwww. Another soul lost in darkness…”

“... anyways…” John continued, turning back to the rest of the group. “With his Pokémon knowledge, some theories have been made on how Asuri can travel between worlds. We narrowed it down to three suspects that could be helping them. Getting the unlikely ones out of the way first, we have Solgaleo and Lunala.”

Taro and Amy flinched slightly once the severity of the name settled in on their heads. The grass hedgehog was the first one to speak about it. “Solgaleo and Lunala? Firstly, yes, that seems highly unlikely because they only appeared a small number of times in this world. Secondly, I know your world knows about Pokémon as a piece of fiction, sure, but do they even know about the Pokémon that aren’t from this world? How is that even possible?”

John shrugged. “Hell if I know. I wouldn’t even know if other pieces of media there would be real in another reality.” He sighed, looking a bit thoughtful before speaking again. “So since these two have a low possibility of helping anyone, the other candidate has a higher probability to be helping Asuri. The suspect in question is Hoopa, a portal-making Pokémon according to him.”

Taro hummed. “Isn’t there just one of them in the whole world? Wouldn’t they be hard to find?”

“We’re speaking of a company with probably billions of Poké in their pockets.” Claire said while looking at the Togedemaru, her tails dropping a little. “I imagine they could do more than just find a legendary Pokémon while remaining undetected.”

John nodded. “Yep, happened with a lot of companies in my world. Just because they were rich, they could hide a lot of their wrongdoings by just paying the authorities.”

Amy tilted her head. “But what would their reasoning be for helping Asuri? Hoopa might be known for their mischievousness and kinda greedy nature, but they aren’t really evil.”

Popo and Nana looked at the Shaymin. “They could be helping them because they were forced to.” “The sinners might be keeping a friend of theirs captive.” “They could have a prized item that they have.” “Or have they have the ability to completely overpower them and kill them if they so desire.”

“They’re basically treating them as their slave then…” Claire said while looking down. If that was the case, all of the little respect the Vulpix had for them would be gone.

“Whatever it is, we’re gonna find out the truth once we investigate them up close.” John said while raising a nub. “It was the second reason I wanted to make this meeting. We’re gonna organize what we’re gonna take and our plans for once we get there rather than just gather evidence.”

“We shall punish them with a sacrifice.” “Their sins shall only be forgiven if they give in to the will of the Great One.” Popo and Nana suggested, getting the rest of Team Net to turn to them while saying “NO!” in unison. “Awww…”

“We’re not gonna go after anyone there. We will be just gathering evidence to expose them later on.” John said before adding. “Plus, if we go after the head office on our own with no evidence, we will surely get beaten up and get handed over to the authorities in no time. Hell, we could even get arrested by assault.”

Taro sighed. “Yeah, you do have a point…”

Claire then perked up, her tails rising a little. “Wait, we forgot to tell you guys something. There will be two detectives in Xander Cage on Friday. One of them is the Scizor I met in the hospital and the other is his partner.” The Vulpix decided to keep Mark’s secret from the team for now. She thought that if she told them, he would feel betrayed that she couldn’t keep a secret. “We managed to convince them that Asuri might be up to no good and they said they were gonna go to Xander Cage City at the time of our trip to keep an eye on them.” She then turned to John. “We could just give them the evidence, and since you’re a human, you could prove that the evidence is the right one to expose them!”

John thought about it for a moment before eventually deciding. “Yeah… you’re right. We could just do that!” John said a bit excitedly.

“Hold on a moment.” Amy called with a frown on her face. “How do you know that these detectives are trustworthy enough? I mean, sure they are part of the authorities but… would they trust us?”

“Well, they would since one of them is a-”

The Vulpix interrupted the spiderling by pressing a paw on him, John struggling beneath her foot. “Since one of them is really smart and they know a lot about the human world! He said he investigated a human before so he’d know that the evidence is true!” Claire said a bit sheepishly before letting go of the Joltik.

John looked at the fire fox a little annoyed. “What was that for-”

“Oh, wowsers! What an interestin’ group we got here!”

Team Net turned to the source of the voice and saw a cloaked bipedal Pokémon, wearing a beige hood shrouding their entire face sans the toothy red grin and manic-looking red and green eyes. As the figure spoke, their grin flashed red. “Never seen anyone wanderin’ around these parts of the park, what brings y’all here?”

Team Net’s (except for the Tandemaus and John) eyes widened once they got a look at the cloaked face. The group knew how to identify a Corrupted Pokémon by their eyes, seeing a small hint of madness in their eyes. And by the look in this Pokémon’s eyes, they looked utterly insane. “A-a Corrupted Pokémon!?” Taro said in shock.

John looked in disbelief at Taro before he looked back at the grinning figure. “That’s a Corrupted Pokémon!?” The Joltik said in shock. He then looked aside and muttered. “It’s official, Saturday is fucking cursed…”

Popo and Nana jumped in front of Team Net and summoned their Shadow Claw from one of each mitten hand, pointing at the Corrupted Pokémon. “State your business here, heathen!”

The Corrupted Pokémon rolled their eyes before lowering their hood, revealing their robotic face resembling a Weavile. “It’s always the same thing when a Corrupted Pokémon is spotted.” They- or he (judging by the voice) started doing a mock voice while putting his claws on the side of his head. “Oh noes! A Corrupted Pokémon!” He put a claw on his forehead, acting like he was a damsel in distress. “Who’s gonna save me now from this foul beast!” He chuckled and shook his head as he shrugged. “Let me tell you guys that not all of them are the same savages. Look at me for example! Am I snarling and growling at you?”

Amy looked aside. “Uh… I’m pretty sure they can talk as well just like you do…”

He raised a finger. “Hey, at least I’m not attacking you guys!”

Claire snorted some flames from her snout before looking around. “You’re not alone, are you?” She asked, still on edge after almost receiving a fatal wound because of a Corrupted Pokémon situation.

“What’chu saying, foxy? I came here all on my own, all by myself!” The robotic Weavile said before raising an invisible eyebrow, putting his claws on his side. “It’s almost like you have trauma or something.”

John slammed a nub on the table. “For your information, she was attacked by one of your kind exactly last week! She was even sent to the hospital and-” Suddenly, John stopped talking as he slowly calmed down. Even while permanently grinning, the Weavile had an expression of confusion shown by his eyes. The Joltik stuttered as he asked. “Q-question… are you… are you a human?”

Team Net’s eyes widened as they looked at John, remembering the potential truth about Corrupted Pokémon. They all looked at the Weavile, waiting for a response. He stayed in silence for a moment before humming, putting his claws on his sides. “Where did you get that idea from?”

Claire took a step closer to him and said. “Last Saturday, me and the Joltik here bumped into a Charmander who looked afraid of everything around him and even called us monsters. Later that day, when I was returning home, I found a Corrupted Charmander that also called me a monster and attacked me. Pokémon don’t call each other monsters for no reason, that behavior is not something you’d see a normal Pokémon do. And two different Charmanders that said the same thing with no reason?” The Vulpix shook her head while continuing. “That can’t be a coincidence.”

The Weavile rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but I’m not a human. That Charmander was prolly pure coincidence!”

“Why deny the truth?” Popo said as he lowered his Shadow Claw along with his sister. “We can see your soul perfectly.” “You are human.”

The robot groaned in annoyance, crossing his arms. “Stop trying to gaslight me! I am no human and never was. If I was, I would’ve remembered being one!”

The Tandemaus tilted their head while asking. “Then what do you remember?”

He lifted a claw finger. “Well, I-... I remember… when I…” Team Net looked at themselves in confusion before looking back at the Weavile again. “I thought I…” He looked away, muttering to himself. “Has she been hiding something from me…?”

Taro tilted his head. “She…?”

“Argh!” He swiped a claw in front of him and turned away. “Forget it, I came here looking for something fun to do but apparently the universe wanted to toy with my good mood it seems!” He released a sigh, putting on his hood. “I’m gonna do a bit of thinking. I’m sure we’re gonna run into each other again eventually.”

“Wait!” Claire called, asking. “Can we at least get your name, if you have one?”

The robotic Weavile gave them a side eye, answering the team. “Cass, the only thing I can remember…” That was the last thing he said before skating away with the wheels below his feet.

Team Net was just left staring at the spot where Cass was standing. John sighed. “Well… at least that confirms that I’m gonna be like that if I ever get caught by the guys behind the Corrupted Pokémon…”

Amy grimaced at the thought. “They not only make them act more savage than normal, change their appearance, but they also brainwash them… that’s so cruel…”

Taro groaned angrily. “I hope whoever runs this organization gets what’s coming for them soon! This can’t continue like this!”

“Imagine how many families were ruined because of them…” Claire commented while looking aside. She clenched her paws while gritting her teeth slightly, failing to notice purple wisps of energy appear around her body. However, the wisps soon disappeared as the Vulpix took a big breath. “I hope the rescuers or the police can do something about them, this can’t go on for long.”

John nodded. “I wouldn’t like to spend my entire second life under a fake identity after all.” He said before turning to the rest of Team Net. “Alright, I guess that concludes this meeting. I hope that everything goes well in the mission.”

“Less than a week to prepare, huh? Should be easy peasy for an investigation!” Taro said with a grin before looking at Amy. “Isn’t that right, Amy?”

The Shaymin snapped back to reality, looking at Taro. “Oh, yes! It will be…”

Claire noticed the forced look on Amy’s face and frowned. She hoped that Amy would open up about what she has been feeling to the rest of the team soon…

Although, another issue passed through the Vulpix’s mind as some thoughts ran in her head. Until now, she had seen Corrupted Pokémon as savages who follow vague thoughts and instincts tied to a leash. But now… after seeing Cass, she realized that they were much more than that. They were poor victims of brainwashing…

The fire fox looked back at where the robotic Weavile was standing, frowning in pity. ‘I sure hope that you’re able to snap out of that control one day, Cass.’

----------------------------------------

She couldn’t ask for better luck.

Alice just managed to get a Porygon-Z and use him as a spy. What would be the odds that this same glitchy duck would work at the same school that the human could be on? She would hit the jackpot if that was the case.

It’s a good thing that Asuri owns the profile of every Porygon that get their upgrades and small updates get through the company, or else she wouldn’t have found Zetamon’s profile in the network. The Porygon-Z had been working in Obelisk High, in the small town of Burgroth, a town that she wouldn’t even notice since the Fire Continent was so big.

And if the potential human attended that school… she could monitor them and be ready in case they try to be a “hero” to stop her plans… when will they know that they are only preventing a wonderland from being created?

Alice sent the Porygon-Z back to Burgroth so he can get ready for another week at school as usual. She would remotely send him orders so that he can follow her bidding without any chance of her plans going wrong.

It seemed that, finally, everything was going as she intended. She managed to get the internet to this world, her army of humans was getting bigger and more powerful than ever, and she even managed to get to the President’s good side, making the process of crossing to the human world easier. It seemed that this was the cycle, the cycle that Project Wonderland would be completed.

She worked so hard to achieve such a feat, it took a long time, but her goal was close to completion. She could finally take a breather after so long…

That was why she decided to walk around the edges of Flame City, alone. She felt that deserved a small break when her plan was near finish. She finally had time to relax more, so what’s better than taking a small walk, away from the tight spaces of an office?

The Meowscarada took a deep breath, feeling the clear air pass through her lungs, refreshing her respiratory system. Fresh air like this almost didn’t exist anymore in the human world from her time there. So once Wonderland was built, the first thing she would fix in that world was the oxygen and the oceans.

… and there goes away her peaceful moment…

After passing behind a glass-made building, Alice stopped in place as her smile was replaced with an annoyed frown. She sighed before looking behind her. “I know you’re there, you can come out now.”

It seemed like nothing would happen as silence followed by a swift breeze, minimizing the silence by a little bit. However, from the glass building a dark rift appeared, some black clouds oozing from the rift as purple sparks accompanied them. From the giant rift, a massive and imposing gray, black, red, and yellow dragon figure appeared, their wings materializing from the golden ribcage-like body part around their neck. The dragon looked at Alice with a menacing stare. “Alice Mishima…”

The Meowscarada fully turned to the ruler of the Distortion World and smirked. “Oh wow, it seems that I’m even popular around the deities of the world!” She flashed a pose, putting her paws beneath her chin. “Tell me, ruler of the Distortion World, what is the meaning behind your sudden visit?”

Giratina continued glaring at her as they spoke. “I’ve been watching you for some time now. I’ve seen what the consequences of your actions have caused to the world.” They lowered their neck a little bit, narrowing their eyes. “Do you even know what have you done by bringing the internet to this world?”

Alice stopped posing and chuckled. “So even you know about the internet. My, it seems everyone is truly connected these days.” She grinned. “Yes, I know too well what I have done…”

“Do you know the damage that it is causing to the balance of the universe?”

“I fully know that.” She then folded her arms behind her back. “But what if I told you that all of this damage is intentional?”

“Intentional!?” The antimatter dragon spread their wings, a gust of wind being released around them. “You can’t possibly be thinking of colliding two worlds together, are you!?”

“Relax, that’s something a villain would do. And I can assure you, I’m no villain.” The masked feline said, motioning a paw to go along with her words. “I’m looking to do something else with the two worlds. Simply put… I want to combine the two of them.”

“What!?” Giratina said, baffled by the words of the Meowscarada. “But that’s madness, you can’t possibly hope to do that! Both worlds will collide and both shall be destroyed!”

Alice chuckled. “And that’s where you’re wrong.” Giratina tilted their head as the masked feline continued. “I’ve made my calculations. The internet is a marvel, you see? Not only does it connect two places at once, but it allows two individuals to interact with each other without physically being there. However, when more than billions of users are using that connection all at once, the forces attract each other, slowly but surely. You barely notice it, but this world is on its way to encounter the human world, and when they fully meet, they will fuse to create a single world! Don’t worry, there might be some really small collateral damage here and there because of some constructions and places overlapping each other, but no one will get hurt, so it’s a win for both worlds!”

Giratina stared in silence for a long moment before eventually saying. “That’s complete… madness.” Alice’s grin was completely wiped off her face. “You’re completely insane… you can’t just toy with the balance of two worlds and don’t expect to be consequences!” Their wings turned into claws with three red tips as a dark aura started to appear around their body. “If you don’t stop with this crazy plan right at this moment, I will have to take matters into my own claws, for the good of both Pokémon and human worlds!”

Alice just sighed. “If you want to be that way…” A purple aura manifested on the Meowscarada’s paw, the aura enlarging and shaping itself in the form of a scythe, formed out of pure darkness. She spun the scythe around in her paws for a second before resting the hilt of it on her shoulder as a floating plant appeared beside her. “So be it…”

Giratina took off from the ground and coated their wing claw in a shadowy energy, lunging at Alice. The Meowscarada dodged the huge body mess along with the attack by simply sidestepping out of the way. “Too slow…” She said before spinning and swinging her dark weapon at the dragon’s side as they flew past her, all in under a second.

Giratina grunted from the pain, doing a quick 180 as they landed on the ground. They released a roar into the air, and below Alice’s feet, she felt the ground heating up. She knew what that attack was, so she immediately jumped away, just in time for a large pillar of flaming rocks and dirt to come out of the ground. While airborne, she saw a massive silhouette growing larger from the magma. As the pillar disappeared and the rocks fell to the ground, a massive wing claw came swinging at her, coated with the same shadowy aura. Alice managed to block the blow with her scythe, the Night Slash and Shadow Claw clashing with each other for a short moment.

Alice managed to deflect the slash, pushing the wing claw and the massive Pokémon away from her. The antimatter legendary, with a flap of their wings, flew back, retreating into a recently formed portal before closing it. The Meowscarada fell back on the ground and started looking around with a perceptive look on her face, humming in thought. “So that’s how you’re playing huh…?”

The Meowscarada then closed her eyes and took a deep breath, putting a paw over her eyes as she tried to identify in which direction Giratina was coming from. After a few seconds of agonizing silence, Alice opened her eyes and sprang away from where she was standing, right before another dark portal opened up. As the antimatter dragon came out of it, Alice aimed the floating plant (that was actually attached to a near-invisible string on her body) and fired a bomb flower directly at Giratina. The bomb exploded when in contact with the dragon, launching them a few meters away. After a moment, Giratina got up while trying to regain their balance, bleeding on their side and missing a few scales from their body. “How…? How did you figure out where I was coming from…?”

Alice stood on the ground with a grin on her face. She shrugged. “Wouldn’t you like to know, antimatter boy-?” Suddenly, the masked feline was wrapped around shadow tendrils, making her weapon dissipate and restricting her movement. She then looked at the ground to see a trail of shadows leading right back to Giratina. She was foolish enough to get caught in the enemy’s trap… “Clever…” That’s all she managed to say.

Giratina said nothing else before charging a blue sphere of energy in front of their mouth. The orb grew bigger until the dragon released the Aura Sphere, launching it directly to Alice.

The Meowscarada braced for impact, the energy sphere hitting her right in her body as the shadow tendrils released her. The masked Pokémon was launched far away by the Aura Sphere, only stopping when she reached a tree. By then, Alice wasn’t flying at high speed anymore, so the impact on her back was soft. She slumped onto the ground, falling to her knees. She put a paw on her chest, feeling a warm red substance oozing out of a wound in her body. When was the last time she last bled? Oh yes, that battle.

“Are we done here?” Alice looked up and saw the large antimatter dragon land in front of her. “Or do I have to beat you to your senses?” They threatened, spreading their wings a bit further.

The Meowscarada stared at them for a moment and couldn’t help but chuckle at the situation. The lizard really did think that they got her cornered. “Well… it’s been quite some time since I’ve last heard of you, you seemingly haven’t been slacking off, have you?”

Giratina tilted their head. “Since you last heard of me? What are you talking about?”

“Heh…” Alice slowly got up and took her paw away from her chest, blood still dripping from it. “You wouldn’t know… you still think that I’m dead. But it doesn’t matter…” She slowly brought her paw to her mask. “You’ll realize the truth soon enough…”

Giratina got into a defensive stance, their wings turning into claws. “What do you mean by that!?”

The Meowscarada clasped her mask as a wicked grin formed on her mouth while closing her eyes. “Maybe after this… you will know what I mean.” Alice then threw away her mask before opening her eyes, revealing that her sclera fully turned pitch black while her irises stayed the same red color.

Giratina retreated a couple of meters back. “What!?”

Alice’s body began to change a little more as she grew a bit taller, the insides of her ears oozing a black substance, the fur on her cheeks and the back of her head slowly turning black as well, looking like the same substance but dried up. The flower around her neck fell limp and lost some of its saturation, almost looking like it withered. Her paws started being covered with a black layer, almost looking like a glove. The rest of her also lost a bit of its color as some parts of her body started leaking the tar-like substance. On her forehead, a black heart mark appeared, and her eyes started to leak the same black liquid. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to use this and you’d be a pushover, but you left me no choice.” She opened her arms as the grass around her started to wither. “This will be quick.”

Giratina’s eyes widened. “That’s…”

The Meowscarada chuckled. “That’s right. Dark Matter. But don’t worry, unlike the other Pokémon who were controlled by it…” A ball of dark matter appeared on her paw, floating. The ball suddenly sprang behind her and fell to the ground. Alice then raised her arm and an entire wall of the dark substance was erected behind her like a geyser. “I control it to my will… thanks to you.”

“Huh-?!”

Suddenly, Alice flew directly to the antimatter dragon, barely even visible to the naked eye. Giratina had barely any time to react before the dark matter feline punched the dragon in the chest with her blackened paws. Giratina was launched a few meters back but quickly regained their composure and tried to focus back on Alice, however, she was nowhere to be seen. “Where-”

The rule of the Distortion World received another blow on its back, but before they could look at the source, they received another blow and another and another, receiving a barrage of punches from every direction. Alice was just so fast that she couldn’t even be seen, it was like she was actually flying.

Because she was.

The Meowscarada appeared in front of the limping Giratina, descending from a higher altitude with angel-like wings made of dark matter on her back. “Do you see now, Gira?”

Giratina grunted in pain before speaking. “There’s… there’s no way for a Pokémon to control Dark Matter without being corrupted on seeking the destruction of a world… how did you do it…?”

Alice grinned widely. “As I said before, it was thanks to you that I managed to do that…”

Giratina fell on their knees. “What do you mean by-” They stopped themselves before finally managing to look at Alice. “It’s… it’s you, isn’t it? You’re her, aren’t you…”

The Meowscarada chuckled. “You’re correct. Nice to finally see you again, old friend…” She lifted a paw as a ball of pure darkness appeared on her paw. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to kill anyone, I just need to keep you away for now...” She launched the ball of darkness at the Giratina, hitting their head and causing a small explosion on contact. With that, the ruler of the Distortion World couldn’t handle it anymore and fainted on the ground. Alice landed in front of them and dissipated her wings. The dark matter around her body started to disappear as her mask magically appeared on her paw again. “Hope you have a nice time catching up with your sibling once you wake up, hehehehe…”