Gardevoir didn't take me back to Eterna. His evolution had brought him a drastic increase to both his power and control, so when we reappeared on a Jubilife street, I only felt somewhat nauseous and only needed to sit for a handful of minutes. Gardevoir, too, stumbled a bit, most likely having to deal with the aftermath of expending so much of his energy at once.
Still, though, such a distance was impressive in its own right. Only minutes after handling that Gastly line trio, we were up and moving through the city's streets, Gardevoir looking around and taking in the sights with his newfound height.
This late at night, there weren’t many people around. The streetlights lit up our path as we slowly meandered towards whatever Pokémon Center happened to be nearest.
"Is there a reason you wanted to go back to Jubilife?" I asked.
Gardevoir nodded, but he didn't make any effort to explain. He seemed serious, dedicated in a way, as we approached the nearby Pokémon Center that just happened to be the same one Gardevoir had been first treated at as a Ralts.
When we entered, I was met with surprise.
"It's you!"
"It's me," I replied.
I sent a curious glance Gardevoir's way as I moved over to where a familiar nurse was sitting behind the front counter.
"Could I have a room?"
"That video spread of my rant, and I got stuck on the night shift as a result," the nurse grumbled.
The memory of her lambasting me over Gardevoir's, then Ralt's, condition still felt fresh in my mind. She reached down and started to rustle through a drawer for a room key while I watched.
"You know, that wasn't my intention," I said.
"I know, I know. And I know it's not your fault, either. Still, I'm basically getting punished over something we nurse's are supposed to do anyway. Lecturing trainers about letting Pokémon get that injured is part of the job, after all."
"Gardevoir wasn't my Pokémon back then," I said.
As the nurse sat back up to drop the key into my hand, her eyes looked over Gardevoir next to me.
"Huh. They're already a Gardevoir? You two work well together, then. I don't suppose your Pokémon need healing?"
Thinking about it, the only person who'd actually taken damage in the fight against those Ghost Types was me, as I had been dragged against the rough forest floor. I knew Gardevoir needed a post-evolution checkup to make sure everything was working properly, but he gave a slight shake of his head to decline such a check up for now. I didn’t blame him if he didn’t want to be treated at this Pokémon Center.
"We're good," I said.
The nurse nodded.
I started to walk off, but she called out to get me to stay for a moment longer.
"I'm sorry about that, by the way," she said loudly, so I could hear. "I made an assumption I shouldn't have, and I shouldn't have yelled at you in that situation. That Chance, though—"
"He doesn't matter," I interrupted. "Honestly, with a single exception, I haven't thought about him since our battle. I’d like it to stay that way."
The nurse shrugged and went back to relaxing in her chair.
"Then, I hope your journey continues to go well. And as for you, Gardevoir, I'm glad you found yourself such a caring trainer."
Gardevoir sent her a thankful smile, and we retired to a room for the night.
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I wasn't used to the sudden reliance on teleportation, even with Gardevoir being the one effectively setting our destination. The next morning, I handed the key over to the new, unfamiliar nurse on shift, and the moment we left the Pokémon Center, Gardevoir teleported us to the route east of the city.
Another bout of momentary nausea hit me as both of us needed a bit of time to recover. Distance didn’t seem to make a difference, as I felt just as sick as I did last night, and Gardevoir stumbled about the same amount.
However, seeing that we were now out of city bounds, I went ahead and released my team. Everyone had seen him when we rested for the night, but that didn't mean my Pokémon were any less excited for Gardevoir’s recent evolution.
Ninetales immediately ran up and began circling him, and Dedenne ran forward to sit on her back as she did. Rapidash actually got close enough to nudge Gardevoir happily while Togepi lifted her arms up to request to be lifted by the Psychic Type.
Gardevoir, amused, brought Togepi into the air with his telekinesis. In response, Togepi pretended to swim around him, but all of her movements were actually done at Gardevoir's command.
I didn't get too long to enjoy the sight of my happy Pokémon as everything soon went white with Altaria's feathers covering my head. He squawked happily as he moved around to get just the right and proper balance. I sighed and pulled a few feathers back to be able to talk to my Pokémon.
"So, Gardevoir. Why did you bring us here?"
I already had an idea why. After a bit of charades that involved a few gestures towards Dedenne, I easily figured it out.
"Luxio," I stated.
Gardevoir nodded.
"Then, let us help you find them. We're a team after all, right?"
He smiled, and I started to bark out orders.
Altaria took to the air to search from the sky. Ninetales and Rapidash would scout in the distance around us, using Agility to cover as much area as possible. Gardevoir would stand in the center to probe our local area more in depth. Most importantly, Dedenne stayed with me to keep Togepi company.
This organized system had been designed after that one misadventure with Togepi’s Metronome Teleport. There was no way we’d ever lose a team member, and with such an organized search party, it didn't take long at all for us to find Gardevoir's target.
In a small field next to that patch of dark, electrically-charged soil was a tree stump with a familiar Luxio resting on it. Around it, a few Shinx ran around and played, and it soon lifted its head up to glance at Gardevoir. Gardevoir just stood and stared from a distance.
He looked upset, almost. His eyes lingered on the Luxio as it stared back. His entire body seemed tense, too. As Gardevoir made no moves to go forward, Luxio was the first to act. Rather than attacking, it simply dipped its head in a sign of respect and went back to napping on the stump it was on.
Gardevoir continued to stare. For a moment, one of his fingers twitched, but he didn’t do anything. Gardevoir turned around and began to walk off.
I made sure to stay next to him.
"You thought Luxio would have evolved by now, didn't you?" I asked.
Gardevoir was frowning. He nodded at my question.
"It's hard for wild Pokémon to evolve, especially if they're already one of the more powerful individuals in an area,” I said. “Luxio has its pride, its companions, and its territory. What else does it really need? Unlike you, it hasn't experienced anything that required it to get stronger. You might not have an opponent waiting for you, but that doesn’t matter. If you expected this to be a moment where you proved your strength, you don’t need to do something like that. Gardevoir, you’re already strong."
His head dipped down as he let out a sigh. After a moment, he tilted his head back to look up at the cloudless sky above before turning to me with confidence in his eyes. The rest of my team had been returned when Luxio was found, but now that we had a bit of time, I figured we might as well spend it actively.
Gardevoir then teleported us a bit further aways, and I sent out the rest of my team. We were still in the process of training for the future, so it didn’t make sense to pass up the opportunity we had now to continue.
Gardevoir, and the rest of my team, too, for that matter, threw themselves into training. Bursts of air were sent out as Gardevor and Rapidash unleashed their psychic attacks against each other. Ninetales and Dedenne continued to unleash fast-paced attacks against Altaria, with Dedenne getting far closer to developing Thunderbolt on his own. Togepi, too, trained. She wasn’t learning any new moves, but her current moves were being practiced and perfected.
All the while, I planned.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
With Tobias looming over our heads, we needed to be able to counter Legendary Pokémon. I had told my team it was possible, and I knew it was thanks to Ash. Even with the progress we were making, I was unsure if we'd be successful or not. I was really looking forward to our upcoming battle in Snowpoint, since that would be a challenge against a Gym Leader’s personal team to test our improvements. We didn’t have a lot of options for opponents, otherwise, because after all, it wasn't like we knew of a Legendary Pokémon just sitting around who'd be up for a challenge.
The second I had that thought, I stared ahead with a blank expression on my face.
"I'm an idiot," I groaned.
Ninetales's ear twitched as I said that, and she interrupted her use of Ice Beam against Altaria to come running over. She nudged her cold nose against me to look up at me with big, comforting eyes.
I’d known Ninetales the longest out of every Pokémon here. She trying to give me a look as if to say "Don't worry. We've known that for a long time."
Annoyed, I playfully pushed her head down as she let loose a barking laugh. I cleared my throat to get everyone's attention and tried my best to ignore Ninetales’s laughter.
"Hey, everyone! We have a new destination, although it could very well be described as ‘old’ considering we've been there before."
Gardevoir looked my way, recognizing that I meant for him to teleport us there.
"Iron Island," I explained. "If we're going to have to fight a Legendary Pokémon, why not train against one we know?"
Since Darkrai was capable of powerful attacks, I had no doubt that fighting against Heatran would undoubtedly help prepare us for our encounter.
----------------------------------------
"A great idea! Heatran rarely gets worthwhile challengers. Usually they just think too highly of themselves and get crushed by his magma."
"Well, I’m not too confident about my team’s ability to win, but I definitely think it’d be good practice,” I said to Byron. “And, uh, I’m curious. Has Tobias shown up here yet?”
Byron tilted his messy head to the side and rubbed his coarse beard in thought.
“Tobias?” Byron asked.
“The Darkrai trainer,” I stated.
“Yes! Him! Well, we’ve been warned about him, especially since both Roark and Gardenia were swept by his Pokémon. Well, there’s no need to be so worried about me! My Steel Types have impeccable defense! Darkrai stands no chance against my team!”
“Ah. Yeah. I was worried,” I stated.
I looked away from him.
Byron and I were walking towards where an Alakazam rested in his Gym. The Psychic Type had a loose connection to Lucian, though it was closer to being the Gym’s Pokémon than anything else. It served as the “ferry” between Iron Island and Canalave City, acting as Byron’s quick access to the underground biome when he needed.
Gardevoir could have teleported us to the Island, but such frequent, long distance teleportations had practically drained him of his energy. Going from Eterna Forest to Jubilife, Jubilife to Route 203, then Route 203 to Canalave had caused him severe exhaustion that he needed a break from. He wouldn't be teleporting long distances any time soon, but he would at least be able to battle.
Personally, I thought it was already impressive enough that Gardevoir could suddenly teleport long distances. He was disappointed that it wasn’t something he could spam or use to cross the entire region. He’d get there eventually, however.
“Iron Island has actually seen some changes since you’ve been gone,” Byron commented. “One enterprising young trainer practically helped solve our Durant problem, all on his own!”
“Ash Ketchum?” I asked.
Byron turned my way in shock.
“How’d you know?”
“Lucky guess,” I deadpanned.
“Well, Ash and his friends worked alongside Heatran to beat the Durant back,” Byron commented. “Somehow, he figured out that the Durant were just trying to make sure their young would stay safe from the threats the island posed. After a lot of effort, Ash managed to convince the Durant to relocate to a different section of the island, effectively turning a series of a few caverns into a dedicated Durant hive, convincing them to leave practically the entire lowest level alone! That’s freed up routes for other trainers to push to the lowest depths, so the lowest biome has been more active than ever!”
Hearing that, I couldn’t help but to feel a headache coming on. Not only did Ash successfully fight back the Durant swarm, a nigh-insurmountable threat that had been plaguing Iron Island for years, but somehow, he had also convinced them to significantly reduce their overall presence.
The feat was ridiculous. Impossible, really. I still found myself uncomfortable in tight spaces since my team’s encounters with that swarm. To have pushed the ants back?
Something deep inside me was telling me it was a mistake to prepare for Tobias and not Ash. Tobias was the one to beat Ash, however. The practice and preparation would still translate over, right?
“Gavel left, too, in case you were wondering,” Byron pointed out right before we arrived at Alakazam. “He’s taking on the Gym Challenge this year. You should meet him in the Conference, too.”
“That’s good. I hope everything goes well for him.”
The door opened up, Alakazam peeked open its eyes, then the three of us were on Iron Island.
To my surprise, when we entered the main area of this underground Pokémon Center, we weren't alone. Three other trainers were here relaxing, with one of them actually looking up, surprised to see me. I didn't know them, but they seemed to have clearly recognized me.
Since Byron was with me, they didn't approach, allowing us to move out to the divided cavern located in the depths of Iron Island. Just like last time, I saw that half of it was a molten cragfield, and the other half was a dry forest.
"Heatran!" Byron called out once we approached the central division. "You have a challenger!"
There was a moment where nothing happened. Soon, however, a burst of molten rock answered his call as the Legendary Pokémon, Heatran, emerged out from underneath the lava. Slowly, it began to amble forward, with footsteps crushing the dry, black rock under its feet. In its wake, a series of oozing, red pockets of lava slowly began to cool.
I'd been close to it before, but now that I was about to battle it, Heatran looked more intimidating than ever before. As I stared, trying to ready myself for this, Heatran’s mouth opened up to let itself groan out its name. My eyes lingered on its metal teeth and the gaps they slotted into on its metal head.
“Now then, I won’t be giving Heatran commands, but I will be serving as the referee,” Byron said. “Which of your Pokémon will be taking Heatran on?”
“Gardevoir,” I answered.
As soon as I said his name, Gardevoir released himself from his Pokéball to stand at my side. I also sent out Rapidash to stand by for healing in case of emergencies. At his prodding, he managed to convince Togepi to stay in her ball as well. We didn’t want to risk anyone getting incurably burned or injured.
Honestly, I was nervous. Gardevoir was still effectively a freshly evolved Pokémon, yet he would be going up against a Pokémon that carried incredible power. He had the single advantage in that his dedication to training was comparable to Azumarill's, which made him stronger than the average Gardevoir who had just evolved.
Gardevoir flashed to the space that'd be set as a field with a Teleport. One half of it was igneous rock, and the other half was dead and dried grass.
"No need to state the rules. Just begin whenever," Byron announced.
“You know what to do, Gardevoir. Use what we’ve been working on for Darkrai."
Gardevoir acted immediately without me giving any orders. Dozens of copies of him appeared on the field, not surrounding Heatran, but in random places where it was safe to stand. As Double Team came into effect, a low mist started to form up on the field, as well. The Misty Terrain would not only serve to stop any accidental burns, but more importantly, it would help to better disguise his movements.
Heatran did nothing. It stood still as its orange eyes panned over its numerous opponents and lingered on the pastel pink mist that now completely surrounded it.
Across from Heatran, Gardevoir and all the illusory duplicates moved in unison at once. With Psychic, a massive chunk of earth was ripped out of the field and was sent hurtling towards Heatran. He could have tried to grab Heatran, but the point of this battle was to give us a baseline to how Gardevoir measured up to Legendary Pokémon. Against Darkrai, his Psychic attacks wouldn’t work at all.
As the rock flew towards Heatran, the Legendary Pokémon barely moved. Instead, its head gained a slightly more metallic sheen, and it slammed its head downwards right when the boulder was about to hit.
There was a crack, and the boulder crumbled to bits. Heatran’s Iron Head had both destroyed the attack and protected it from damage. When the last bit of rubble fell to the ground, Heatran continued to stay standing in the same spot, looking completely unblemished.
My eyes widened. Embers started to come off of Heatran’s body. It looked like it was about to attack.
"Get out of there!" I yelled.
Heatran opened its mouth. A gout of flame rushed out, but not in Gardevoir’s direction. Instead, the flames moved to circle it into a spiral as more and more fire joined into a flaming tornado. Once the Fire Spin formed, Heatran dipped its head down as its attack rushed forward chaotically, tearing up and burning the other side of the field.
One by one, Gardevoir’s duplicates were consumed and faded. Each one was practically torn to shreds by the violent whirl, and Heatran caused it to mow over almost every single one in seconds.
Gardevoir wasn’t going to be hit by an attack that easily, however. Teleporting to be right behind Heatran, he rapidly formed a ball of darkness in his hands and sent a Shadow Ball forward.
Unfortunately, Heatran seemed to expect this reaction. It stomped on the ground with a foot, and a chunk of stone was raised up with Ancient Power to block the attack.
Gardevoir clicked his tongue in annoyance and flashed over to the side to try again. Heatran eyed the glowing Shadow Ball in his hands, preparing itself to defend if needed.
He didn’t release the attack right when he was done. Instead, Gardevoir flashed one more time to move to the side and attack Heatran from a different angle. This slight trick was enough to cause the raised stone to only partially block the attack, the ball being cut in two but still hitting Heatran in the side.
There was no reaction. Heatran turned its head slightly to glare at Gardevoir. As it had just taken an attack, it looked like it was now going to get serious.
Byron spoke up in that moment.
"Be careful," he suddenly said. "I understand that as the referee, I need to stay neutral, but Heatran’s attacks are something else."
Gardevoir’s eyes went wide. He used Psychic to tear rocks out of the ground, hastily assembling a form of cover to protect himself from what Heatran was about to do. I saw that and made a mental note to have Gardevoir learn Reflect and Light Screen from Carbink.
Only a moment later, Heatran attacked.
Bulging from the ground under Heatran, a veritable tidal wave of magma erupted from the ground and completely encompassed Heatran. It rushed out in all directions like an explosion of molten stone with the majority of it focused towards Gardevoir. Realizing that the Legendary Pokémon was using practically all of its offensive power at once, I called out to my Pokémon desperately.
"Return! You can't handle this!"
Gardevoir seemed to agree with how quickly he teleported to my side.
Despite this battle being between him and Heatran, the lava was coming dangerously close. Gardevoir and Rapidash exchanged a look and moved into action. I was suddenly Teleported away, and Rapidash ran forward to scoop up Byron with his head and began to gallop away from the field.
From a distance, I turned around to see what Heatran had done. Its attack was a massive burst of molten rock that stretched out in all directions, which included a vertical component as well. The lava didn’t actually spread as far as we expected, though, with Heatran drawing the heat out from the rock to supernaturally cool it and turn it into a hardened shape.
A stone flower had effectively formed over the space we had designated as the field. From the top of it, Heatran slowly climbed out and stared at Gardevoir.
"The victory goes to Heatran," Byron stated as Rapidash brought him to our side.
Heatran looked smug and stomped one of its feet on its rocky construction. The entire thing returned to its molten form and splashed into the ground. The Legendary Pokémon then slowly ambled back into the magma pools, where it submerged itself and resumed its rest.
Gardevoir blankly stared at the spot where the battle had just been forced to end.
"So now we know the power of a Legendary Pokémon," I commented. “Was that just one move?”
“Heatran used three,” Byron replied.
Gardevoir’s head snapped to face him.
“Eruption to bring out the magma, Magma Storm to send it outwards, and Earth Power to create that structure. Heatran is a Pokémon composed of molten metals. It makes sense his specialty is to control molten slag.”
Gardevoir and I didn't respond.
Byron walked off to return to his station in the Gym, as there was only so much time he could dedicate here before he had to return to his job. I found a place to sit next to Gardevoir as he effectively started to brood.
“So we still have quite the ways to go to even hold a candle to whatever that was,” I commented.
Gardevoir nodded. Rapidash stepped forward to try to cheer Gardevoir up. He failed.
“I think we need to start branching out,” I commented. “Power is good, but we need better moves for you to rely on than just Shadow Ball and that modified Psychic. Moonblast, for sure, but we already knew that. Learning screens from Carbink would help, and we definitely need to get a start considering your abilities.”
As I said abilities, both Gardevoir and Rapidash glanced my way. I blinked in surprise, realizing a major mistake I’d been making.
“I’ve never actually mentioned Gardevoir’s abilities, haven’t I?”
Both of them shook their heads.
“Well, in a single battle, you have two relevant abilities you can develop: Trace and Synchronize. Trace allows you to mimic the abilities of any Pokémon you face, and Synchronize lets you inflict a copy of any status condition that’s inflicted on you onto your foe. Unfortunately, neither are too useful against Darkrai.
“It would have been nice if Synchronize worked with falling asleep, but it doesn’t for that status condition in particular. Otherwise, if you were put to sleep, Darkrai would be too. Similarly, Trace would have meant Darkrai would suffer from nightmares due to you copying its ability, Bad Dreams.”
As I said that, both Gardevoir and Rapidash looked a bit disappointed.
“It’s not that big of a loss,” I said. “Trace isn’t a perfect copy. Its own ability will most definitely be stronger than yours. Also, with Darkrai’s connection to dreams, I doubt it would stay asleep anywhere near as long as you would. Regardless, with our plan to use Misty Terrain, Synchronize wouldn’t have come into play, anyway.”
Gardevoir slowly nodded to accept my comments, while Rapidash’s face returned to that same neutral expression.
“Still, though, you have to realize that you actually damaged Heatran today! More practice and more battles against it will make you better and better off. What we practice here is sure to be able to be translated to our final battle.”
Gardevoir smiled, and I smiled too. With that, I sent the rest of my team out. They all stretched to ready themselves for what we were about to do, except for Altaria, who crashed to land on my head instead.
"Alright, everyone," I announced, half-muffled under the fluff. "We have a Legendary Pokémon willing to battle us, and each day, we're going to rotate who faces it. With only so much time to spare before our battle in Snowpoint, we have to make use of what we have now. There are many uncertainties in our future, but that doesn’t mean we’re helpless! We’re going to beat Tobias, so let's get to work!"