Bo wasted no time to stride over and clap a congratulatory hand around Carter’s back as the man kneeled down next his tired pokemon. Dani quickly joined them, nearly skipping in joy despite her loss. After praising Regina and spraying her with a potion, Carter scooped her up to face his friends. Bo had to suppress a snort at the distinctly ‘proud dad’ posture the man assumed without even thinking. The trio spent a few minutes chatting with some of the youngsters that came up to ask about their pokemon before shuffling over to the nearest pokemon center.

“Fierce little lady fits right in with the rest of your crazies, eh big guy?” Dani asked Carter cheerily while they waited for the three pokemon’s checkup to finish. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen a Vullaby move like that before.”

“She’s wonderful alright.” Carter laughed in response. “Thank Arceus that seeing her roll around is so adorable though, or Emma would have killed me after the second time she knocked over the coffee table. Once she evolves, Jaffar will be able to teach her to fly and how to perfect spreading out Toxic using wind tunnels.”

“I got to ask though, Dani. You’re really training up another dark/fighting brawler? Getting around fairies is going to be ridiculous.”

“You know type advantages ain’t everything mate.” Dani casually retorted. “I know dark types, I know fairy types, and I know fighting. My boys and their new little sister are more than capable of getting around any fairy tricks. You’re the one we really ought to be surprised by Bo. How in Arceus’ ambiguous backside did you get a female regional starter? Most leagues cling to those tighter than politicians to their wallets.”

“Eh, you know how it goes. Wander around minding your own business with your Rotom phone out. Walk in on some bigwig principal fighting a gang of teenagers on school property. Nod your head and sign a blank incident report. Bada-bing, bada-boom, they handed me an egg and asked me to forget about everything.”

Bo spoke while idly taking in the usual center sights. Even during a city’s slow season, centers always saw all sorts of trainers coming and going. Youngster and bug-catchers, even a colloquially termed hex maniac passed by as he watched. His people watching was cut short though, as he noticed his two friends’ blank faces. He raised his eye in question, curious about what he had missed. Instead of speaking to him though, the two turned to each other.

“He’s going to get arrested if he ever goes back to Paldea isn’t he?”

“Sounds about right. You haven’t even seen the crazy Legendary he’s walking around with.”

“Oh come on,” Bo protested as he caught on. “I’m like, ninety percent sure nothing about getting Fay was illegal and Saber’s just a bit rambunctious. Besides, there are over a dozen other people they’d need to arrest if every slightly odd thing I did in Paldea was actually illegal. You two are overreacting.”

“Nevertheless, how about we focus on keeping you here in Kanto,” Carter sighed while shaking his head in exasperation.

Bo rolled his eyes at his friends’ reactions, but turned his attention fully towards them. As good as it was to be back together again, it was true that they needed to start focusing on what came next. He’d promised that he’d give everything he had to see this through and the Old Man was already out the entrance fee.

“Way I see it, with a little under two months left before the tournament starts, we have two options. Option A is that we go the village, take some time to ease back into things and then methodically & carefully prepare for the tournament. Maybe a little research into possible opponents too.”

“Boring,” quipped Dani with a pop of her mouth. “What’s option B?”

“Option B,” Bo started with a smile slowly creeping up his face. “is that we hook up with the Old Man and his rookie, full-throttle bust our asses back into championship shape, and cram study the competition once we get there.”

The three of them managed to sit in silent contemplation for nearly five seconds before bursting out into laughter.

‘Like there was ever a real decision to make.’

*

Efficient as always, the resident Nurse Joy soon paged them and returned their three healthy pokemon. Bo quickly released Fay in order to speak with her face to face. Sighing slightly, he leaned down in order to catch the sulking cat’s averted eyes.

“Hey now, sweet girl. None of that. We all have things that we need to work on, myself included, but you did a great job. I’m very proud of you Fay, we all are.”

He finished his encouragement while gently reaching out to rub her soft head. The rest of the family with him, maybe technically excluding the slumbering Saber, quickly agreed with him from within their pokeballs. Their auras reaching out slightly to brush over their youngest sister in encouragement. Fay herself still looked a bit disappointed at her loss but did brighten up at the attention as she rubbed her head lovingly into her trainer’s hand. Looking over, he saw that Dani and Carter were also wrapping up their after battle check-in with their young pokemon.

Once they got their young pokemon settled, the trio moved over to a designated pad set up for teleporting to and from centers. The calibrated energy emitters surrounding the pad ensured that people could only teleport in one direction based on whichever switch was flipped. To get to Mt. Moon, Dani flipped the switch for a departure while Bo released Angel. The fairy appeared with a twirl before slumping when he realized Witch was nowhere in sight. He brightened up marginally when he realized where we were heading though.

“So, straight to the compound?” Carter asked. “I sent the rest of my team ahead, so they should all be there by now.”

“Hmm,” Bo found himself looking towards Dani briefly before craning his head back to look up. Not quite a full moon yet, but it was still glowing in the early evening sky. “Not quite yet. I did promise Dani a magical fairy pond after all. I don’t think you ever really got a chance to see it either, huh?”

Carter snorted in laughter at his younger friend’s words. Bo couldn’t have been much more than a toddler when they had first met, but Carter had no doubt they both remembered how his first visit to the pond sitting at the top of Mt. Moon’s summit went. His laughter shortly died out at the thought though.

“I would love to see it, but one of those ninja maids isn’t going to threaten to slit my throat again, right?”

“Oh relax, you know times were weird back then. Granny Rizu was a just a little wound up. Besides, she and Granny Rikka retired to the Sevii Islands a few years ago. Auntie Yuzu is in charge of the household now… Oh, I mean we don’t have any ninja maids.”

“Well that was convincing,” Carter answered dryly.

“Yah, yah, yah, lots of killer grannies killing people on beaches or something. Enough yapping, let’s go see the magical fairy pond, ninja maids or no ninja maids.” Dani urged them with a clap. “I want to see how my lovelies are settling into the back end of nowhere.”

Bo rolled his eyes for a second, before taking a deep breath.

‘Time to go home,’ he thought to himself. Straightening up, he smiled widely and gave Angel the nod. A second later, he was crushed beneath an enormous weight.

*

Five minutes previously.

The nearly full moon and hundreds of stars glowed brightly in the sky above a mountain peak, easily illuminating the summit clearing in a soft light. Dozens of Clefairy and Clefable drifted back and forth in the air with a soft glow. A twin sky and dozens more fairies seemed to shine back up at the moon from within the mirror like sheen of a still lake resting upon the summit. An elderly man sat cross-legged in front of the lake, seemingly in sage contemplation. And standing next to the sage-like man, a young teenager stood stiff in abject fear.

“The brat’s late.”

Alice Sae jumped at the gravelly sound before realizing it had just been Old Man Moon speaking. She felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment at her panicked response even as her eyes continued to dart around the clearing she stood in. Striving to seem calm, like the experienced ace trainer she was striving to be, she focused on responding to her teacher.

“Maybe his flight got delayed?” she offered. She had flown back and forth from Olvine more than a few times after all, and new how unreliable airplane schedules could be. An unexpected gathering of wild flying types could drastically re-arrange flight plans at a moment’s notice.

“Naw, I told Nanu to shove’em onto the first flight back here with a flight guard on it. Even if it was a rickety old cargo plane, he should’a been shipped over by now. Fool’s probably wandering around with his friends like ankle-biters on their first journey. No consideration for an old man’s fleeting time, little punk.”

Her teacher definitely qualified as an old man though she had her doubts about how ‘fleeting’ the spunky man’s time was. Age had rendered his dangling beard completely white, turned the hands peeking out of his robes bony, and weathered his Alolan features with thick lines. Nevertheless, he was still quite tall and easily towered over Alice herself when he stood. All in all, he perfectly fit the image of a grumpy old man. Despite the grumbled complaint though, Alice was fairly sure the Old Man was smiling beneath his bushy beard as he talked about his grandson.

Alice only really knew a few things about Old Man Moon. She had no idea what events occurred in his past. His teachings seemingly switched between divine providence and irrational mongering without warning. One day he would display a mastery of authoritativeness that would put her mother to shame and the next he would ask one of the local children how to type Psyduck emoji’s on the “electric net thing.” The one thing Alice knew for sure, was that the Old Man loved Rainbow Moon. The Old Man never seemed more alive whenever his grandson was involved.

She had been coming to train under Old Man Moon for almost two years now. She had found out about his training camp by coincidence when she was fourteen. After stalling at her fifth badge during her first year as a trainer, Alice had been at a loss on what to do next. Thankfully, it took very little time to realize that sitting at home, listening to her mother’s repeated, ‘subtle’ hints that she should quit competitive battling and bury her head in academics instead hadn’t been what she wanted to do.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Ultimately, it had been her starter, Tama, that helped Alice find the next step. Curious about where her parents’ had gotten an Alolan Meowth kitten, she’d researched all the breeders in Johto & Kanto until she’d come across the Moon clan and Carmine Village. Possibly the only place outside of Alola that could breed dark type Meowths. Directly linked to the breeding program site had been a short page advertising the finest training program for dark types anywhere in the world.

Ironically, the complete and utter lack of credibility to that boast was what had ultimately convinced her mother to let Alice attend the first summer training program. Seeing that the “teacher” was a doddery-seeming old man and that the only other students were a handful of children had her mother convinced that Alice would be bored out of her mind and ready to slink home before the end of the summer. Indeed, for a while, Alice was almost, sort of, maybe a little bit tempted to just get a temp job working for her mom.

Thank Arceus she had managed to hold onto her sanity. Wandering up and down the reaches of Mt. Moon with her pokemon while learning from Old Man Moon was one of the greatest times of her life. The season after that first summer at Carmine Village, Alice won her eighth badge from Erika and attended her first League Conference. She might have lost in the preliminaries, but it was still one of her proudest achievements. When Old Man Moon had offered to host her for a prolonged apprenticeship, she had jumped at the opportunity. She would always be grateful to her dad for supporting her on the decision despite his wife’s objections.

‘Just need to make sure that mom never learns anything remotely real about this place,’ Alice thought idly to herself as she trembled slightly due to the ground suddenly rumbling around her. Tama leaned into her protectively to steady her, even as the quaking passed. Maintaining a stiff smile, Alice felt her focus shifting away from the past and to the clearing around her once more. The sight before her was exactly the type of numerous dangers that she made sure never to let her mom know about.

Ringed all around her was a horde of the most powerful pokemon Alice had ever seen in person. The Old Man’s weren’t too alarming in their old age. She’d spent more than enough time training with them to be afraid of their presence. The rotund Morpeko and graying Persian simply lazed about next to their trainer without paying attention to the surroundings. Even the enormous Tyranitar that had had Alice quaking in her boots when she first met him was simply sitting and chuckling at the gathered mons’ antics.

The rest of them though, the sheer amount of power represented seemed to shake the air around them. A constant ominous pressure seemed to press down on her from all around, old ingrained instincts warning her that she was prey surrounded by predators. It astounded her that the Old Man’s last two remaining students, a gleeful pair of brothers not even ten years old yet, could be running back and forth amongst them without a single concern. Even the giant black and white flying pokemon that occasionally dive-bombed towards them just made them giggle!

Alice doubted whether or not she herself could even move at the moment and she was as far away as possible from the crowd. And to think, the reportedly most dangerous one of them all wasn’t even here yet. She could vaguely recognize most of the species of pokemon, but she was at least passingly familiar with some of them individually of course. While she herself had never met Rainbow Moon, not being aware of his team that roamed the Mt. Moon area was impossible for anyone that spent any time at Carmine Village (her first week in Carmine Village had involved no fewer than three dozen warnings from various villagers to never go anywhere near Princess).

The Froslass that village children were warned not to follow into the mountains lest they end up temporarily turned into frozen statues floated next a Spiritomb that hurt Alice’s eyes to look at. She had thought the warnings about being frozen were a joke until she saw some of the locals thawing out Mr. Davies and Mr. Chuck. They had apparently gotten drunk one night and woken up posed like ballet dancers in the middle of the village square. Currently, the two ghosts were cackling, poking, and swirling around each other like the spookiest pair of school children ever seen.

Nearby two Samurott, one with a pale shell horn and the other with a wickedly curved black horn, stood shoulder to shoulder snarling while simultaneously pretending they were ignoring one another. As she watched, a small pebble soared over to hit the normally colored water type on the back of the head. Rather than look around, the formidable pokemon immediately turned and leapt on the other, sending them both tumbling across the ground.

Over by where the pebble had flown from, Alice saw the Shifty that she had once witnessed leading a harvest festival ritual. She had looked so majestic; summoning rain, blowing away clouds, creating a burning miniature sun, and ultimately growing fresh grass for miles around the village. She was now rolling on the ground laughing at the two bickering water types. What appeared to be some kind of barrel-bodied snowman that Alice guessed might be some kind of a Darmanitan bellowed in joyful laughter next to her as well while slapping at its knees. The two suddenly broke off and jumped away just in time to avoid a devastating beam of destruction that turned the ground between them to slag.

With a bemused huff, the Tyranitar, one clearly younger and slightly smaller than the Old Man’s but much rowdier, that had casually fired off a Hyper Beam at the two pranksters turned back to the conversation she had apparently been having with a floating Porygon-Z. It was rare to see IO outside of Carmine Village’s computer network, but the bizarre duck seemed to be enjoying itself as it spoke at length with the giant sea serpent. She in kind seemed deeply engaged and nodded quietly in interest at regular intervals.

In contrast three other pokemon were shouting uproariously. The strangest looking Primeape Alice had ever seen was alternating between shadow-boxing and waving its dark grey arms in the air while telling some story. When the Malamar Alice knew was named Doc interrupted it with a few jabs of its own, the fighting type looked even happier. The two’s roughhousing was quickly joined by a spiky-haired, purple and yellow pokemon whose voice echoed around the clearing. The three began jabbing and dodging with utter glee as they mock sparred.

To the left of them, an Obstagoon and Krookadile were engaged in what could only be called a pose off with each other. The Obstagoon held two bulging arms above its head while the Krookadile leaned forward, flashing its wickedly sharp teeth. Between the two, a beautiful Zoroark stood as the judge. With a weary look on her face, the foxlike pokemon was clearly flummoxed as to how she had been drawn into this particular contest. The two cackling Sableye by her knees offered no help as they egged the two posing pokemon on.

The ruckus from all over caused the nearby Scrafty to open it eyes in annoyance from where it was lounging next an eerily still Cacturne. Alice couldn’t tell if the Cacturne was awake or not, but she was pretty sure that, at least, the Slowbro they were using as a pillow was still asleep. The Scrafty turned to call over its shoulder to another nearby group of pokemon.

In response, the immense Golurk whose footsteps had caused the ground to rumble previously groaned for a moment before shaking its head slightly. The ground type appeared to be too busy guarding a small, flickering form from the curious pecking of a Swellow to quiet the others down. The small figure made from flames seemed intent on escaping the ground types bulky hands, but wound up getting knocked back by the flying types inquisitive pecks whenever it got close.

Tama’s sudden snarl caused Alice to look down, only to jump slightly as the ground burst open in front of her. The Gliscor and Drapion that Alice always seemed to find sparring had popped their heads up from the ground next to her alongside a fluffy looking Skuntank. Normally, she would flee on instinct from the skunk-like pokemon but she had been pleasantly surprised to realize this one simply smelled like a hodgepodge of spices; pungent but nothing horrible. The Gliscor called to her softly, seemingly checking in on the strangely trembling human.

She managed to give an assuring wave even as she remained confused by their presence. As far as she knew, the two scorpion pokemon were constantly at each other’s throats. Her puzzlement wasn’t helped by the fact that Miss Yuzu had insisted on Alice never sticking around to see the end of their fighting. Seemingly satisfied with her response, the three pokemon popped their heads back below ground before shaking the earth beneath her as they moved away.

“Uhm, Old Man? If they are running late, do you think maybe we should let their teams go back to the reserve. They seem a little packed in here, don’t you think?”

Her voice tightened uncontrollably as she finished speaking, but she had bigger concerns. Just as she started her question, the Froslass zipped over to the two angry water types and tapped them both on the shoulder. A short finger flick towards the still laughing Shiftry and Darmanitan was all the two proud pokemon needed. With simultaneous roars, powerful jets of water raced towards the cackling duo. The ice type’s eyes narrowed with bemusement before it leapt out of the way of the Hydro Pump, letting the water slice deeply into the rocks behind it.

The Shifty meanwhile, seemed to find that method too boring and started whipping up a fierce wind whilst twirling around the other blast of water. The building hurricane skimmed the top of the jet before ultimately scattering water and buffeting gales across the clearing. The floating fairies seemed to find it hilarious, but Alice paled as several of the powerful pokemon gathered turned to find who had just created a miniature rain storm above their heads. Slowly, the ominous pressure Alice had been feeling built up even further as various shades of power pulsed amongst the gathered apex beings.

Looking out at the steadily building Armageddon, Old Man Moon bobbed his head while humming in contemplation.

“Nah, it’s been a minute since all these young’uns got to see each other. No point in ruin’in the fun for’em.”

Alice felt her teeth grind together painfully as her smile locked even further at his words. Her gaze zeroing in on the even larger Hyper Beam starting to build up in the Tyranitars’ mouth, Alice decided that she should really pray more often. She was just about to act on this new resolution when a small pop rang out. Before she consciously recognized the sound of teleportation, Alice’s head, along with the heads of all the pokemon in the clearing, turned to take in the four figures that had suddenly appeared a few feet away along. She had just identified one of the figures as an abnormally large Clefable when a blur soared past her and slammed into another of the figures.

“Peko!”

The Old Man’s beach ball sized and shaped Morpeko, the semi-aptly named Jumbo, had tackled a thin man, maybe in his early twenties, to the ground and planted himself firmly on the human’s stomach.

Finally taking in the prone man’s appearance and the appearance of two other people with him, panic rose in Alice’s own stomach as she realized what was happening. A skeletally thin and pale man wearing tattered robes, a pink haired woman wearing a top hat, and a giant with a man bun had appeared out of nowhere. This could only mean one thing. More wandering hippies had decided to visit Mt. Moon to smoke Gloom spores with the Clefairies!

Normally, this would just be a slight annoyance, but Alice knew how protective the Moon clan and all their pokemon were of the fairies. She had also just witnessed the start of a fight that was about to break out right before the newcomers arrived. With all these factors gathered together, it was only a matter of time before one of the hyped up elite pokemon went after the intruding hippies.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck! This is bad. How am I going to hide a murder from Mom? Old Man Moon never taught me how to hide bodies. Is there even a technique for that? It can’t just be to grab a shovel, right? What if these hippies have some kind of GPS locators on them? Arceus-damned rising technological acuity!’

Adrenaline surging through her and her breathing suddenly going out of control, the teenager was just about call for Tama to sear…atta… bury… help… her… Jumb… the hippies. Yes, she was just about to call for Tama to help the hippies when a wheezing laughter reached her ears.

“Good to see you too, Jumbo. Have you lost weight? You’re feeling kind skin-oof!”

“Morp!” the old hamster cried out in righteous indignation before bouncing up and down on the young man’s stomach in order to prove him wrong.

“Alright, my bad. Uncle. Uncle!”

Seemingly in response to the hippie’s surrender, the elite pokemon surrounding the clearing unfroze. They roared in unison, not in anger but in joy, before rushing the four new figures. As they approached, flashes of red light sprung up as over a dozen more pokemon sprang out to join them. Within seconds, dozens of pokemon that Alice would bet good money could kill her with a blink piled together in a wild and unruly group hug. One which unfortunately, Alice was alarmingly close to. She only just managed to jump out of the way as several large masses of muscle sprinted by her.

“Bout damn time, boy!” the Old Man crowed with sudden enthusiasm. Placing a large, bony hand on Alice’s retreating shoulder, her elderly mentor propelled them both back towards the tangle of bodies. “Been waiting for eight whole hours for you to show up.”

‘It was half an hour, though?’

“You’re lucky these old bones are still so patient. And what the blazes are you wearing? Never mind, just come meet Alice, Tama, and the Pancake Brothers brat. You too you other rascals, don’t think I can’t whoop you just as well as him.”

“Nice try Old Man. I’d be more worried about those old bones if I hadn’t seen buildings crumble easier than they did,” the bedraggled, robe-wearing hippie that Jumbo had tackled joked easily as he slipped out of the tangled bodies to greet the old man. An off-putting smile stretched across the young man’s face as dull amber eyes locked onto Alice’s own. Reaching out his hand, the newcomer warmly greeted her. “Rainbow Moon, pleasure to meet you Alice. And you as well Tama. You can call me-”

““Skittles!””

“No!”

*

“Rainbow ‘Skittles’ Moon? Seriously, this is the guy you want us on the lookout for, Hoss?”

“Hell yeah!” the flame-haired young man at the head of the group shouted back over his shoulder as they raced deeper into the dimly-lit cave system of Mt. Mortar. The group couldn’t look more out of place; six humans in full riding gear mounted on top of a pack of pokemon. The lead rider in particular leaned deeper into the thick mane of a truly massive Arcanine as they suddenly hurdled through the air.

Duke 'Hoss' West laughed wildly as the world fell out from under him and his starter for a few split seconds before his buddy lightly landed atop a narrow ledge and kept running. The sounds of the rest of the pack following in their wake barely touched his ears as the wind raced by. “And if you’ve got time to look at your phones, we clearly need to kick it up another level.”

“What!?” wailed one of the riders towards the back. “C’mon Hoss, Darmanitan barely made the last jump! I’ll wind up dusted if he trips.”

“No guts, no glory, boys!” Duke called back. “Get ready to feel the burn!”

There were a few grumbles but most of the group smiled happily and urged their pokemon on faster. The pack continued sprinting for nearly half an hour in the pitch dark caverns. One of the pokemon would occasionally let loose a burst of fire to ward of sporadic flocks of Zubat, but for the most part, the group just ran into the darkness trusting in each other to avoid any dangerous obstacles. Once they finally slowed down, the entire group was laughing and smiling amongst each other. Only the oldest of the group who’d first spoken up still seemed slightly worried as he leaned over towards Duke.

“Seriously Hoss. Rumors are that people like the Blackthorns and Anders Motherfucking Shaw are entering this tournament, so why do we give a Jynx’s tit about some dude named after candy?”

Duke howled an unhinged laugh at the question before rubbing his hands roughly into his own head in agitation. His older friend quirked an eye at the display but was more or less used to the younger man’s hyper antics at this point.

“I hate that name. ‘Skittles,’ tsk. I just know he came up with that nickname to screw with people. He probably laughed his ass off when it caught on. The perfect way to get people to drop their guards before he suckers them. Make no mistake, Cole,” Duke’s voice rose as he swirled to direct eyes burning with intensity towards his skeptical teammate. “Skittles Moon is cunning, ruthless and strong as all hell. He might be able to trick some people, but not me. He’s going to be at the Indigo’s Pillar Tournament and I’m going to be there waiting for him. I’m getting fired up just thinking about it. It’s time for us to settle this rivalry once and for all!”