I strode through the main entry of the Contest Hall without issue.
I had to wait a while for Dawn and Ash to leave so I wouldn't bump into them, but once they were out of the way, no one was here to recognize me. My outfit had similar colors to "Robin," but my now visible face and completely different height meant no one even glanced my way.
There were a few reporters set up in the hall, several of whom were interviewing "Jessilina." I could hear her lamentations of loss and promises of pulling off a victory next time, all while her blue-haired "assistant" and suspiciously short "manager" made sure the reporters were kept in line.
...Wait, is her manager Meowth? Wow, that makeup is impressive. I genuinely thought he was just a really hairy human.
Putting the group of eccentric criminals out of my mind, I left without anyone bothering me at all, although I did hear a few questions to Jessie about the true identity of her masked opponent.
She implied I was ugly under the mask.
I wanted to celebrate our near win, but Florges and Ninetales needed to be looked over before we did so. Thankfully, the Pokémon Center was right next to the Contest Hall so there was virtually no travel time to get there. I handed over my Pokémon, sat on a couch in a sitting area, and waited for them to be healed.
I didn’t expect much to happen outside of them giving me an all clear or a summary of any notable injuries they needed to heal off, but the nurse at the counter looked at me strangely as I retrieved my team.
Did she realize I’m actually Robin?
She cleared her throat to properly get my attention, and asked me a question.
“Excuse me, Alex. Are you a Fairy Type specialist?”
“Um, yes,” I replied, a little unsure why she was asking that. “I am.”
“But are you just using a team of Fairy Types, or are you a Fairy Type researcher?”
"Not a researcher, but I am working to get a more solid understanding of the Type itself. Why? Do you need help with a Fairy Type?"
The nurse bit her lip in consideration, and after a few moments of thought, nodded in affirmation.
"I've been keeping an eye out for any possible trainers who can help with our Fairy Type problem, and you're the first to pass by. You’re an experienced trainer. Tell me, when was the last time you did one of the posted jobs?"
I winced.
Well, does working with Sycamore and helping stop at least two terrorist organizations count?
"Not in a while,” I said. “Do you need me to do a specific job?"
She sighed unhappily.
"Kind of. Like you, most experienced trainers don't do jobs unless it’s a pressing issue or the job pays well. The job I’d like you to do hasn’t been posted for very long, nor does it involve a powerful Pokémon. Rather, it’s a Pokémon causing an increase in injuries from incoming new Pokémon Trainers from Route 203. I don’t want more Pokémon getting hurt when it can be stopped. A few inexperienced trainers already gave it a shot and failed, which is why I’m asking you.”
“This must be how people feel when I don’t explain myself,” I mumbled to myself.
"You said there’s a Pokémon causing trouble, but what Pokémon is it, exactly?” I continued. “I mean, I'm all for helping out, but I can't think of any Fairy Type species in Sinnoh that would require you to ask for help like this."
She pressed her lips together, and motioned me to lean forward to hide what she wanted to say. I did as asked.
"It's a Ralts," she said quietly.
"Okay?" I said, very confused.
Ralts weren’t that common in Sinnoh, but not rare enough to warrant a whisper. While that caught me off guard, what was really confusing me was that it was a Ralts, of all things, causing the injuries. As a species that prefers positive emotions, I would have assumed a Ralts wouldn’t be doing something like this. However, if it was beating up new trainers’ freshly caught Pokémon, I can understand why the nurse would want to stop it earlier rather than later.
Ralts had the potential to become one of two decently powerful Pokémon. Maybe the nurse whispered to not encourage anyone listening in to go after it?
“Couldn’t you just warn people from staying away? The Ralts can’t be that strong, can it?” I asked, still not understanding the problem.
The nurse just shook her head.
“You don’t understand. The Ralts is actively searching for trainers to battle. Both travelers and beginning trainers who have taken the job have all been defeated, and there’s already been at least one case of someone giving up training after their loss. It’s too close to the city to call the Rangers, and it’s too weak to ask for an official to step in. As a Fairy Type specialist, you’re our best option.”
“Alright,” I said, rubbing the side of my head. “I have plans tonight, but I’ll see what I can do tomorrow. I’m planning to head down Route 203 to head to Oreburgh, anyway.”
The nurse let out a sigh of relief and gave me a big smile.
“Thank you. Scare it off, catch it, I don’t care what you do. I just don’t want to see more Pokémon getting hurt.”
I nodded one last time and retrieved my fully healed Pokémon before making my way out. It was time to have a decent celebratory meal, and think about how exactly I wanted to handle this supposedly hyper-aggressive Ralts.
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“Cheers!” I shouted.
My team all cheered their name, either holding up their bowls of juice or just looking up or lifting up their bodies, since most of my team didn’t have arms.
I had found a restaurant that had private rooms available with no restrictions on Pokémon. It was a bit expensive, but after everything I’d done in the past year, I had money to spare.
If I saw this when I was just starting out, I’d have probably choked on my own blood seeing how much money I have available. Who'd've thunk life-threatening situations were so profitable?
Everyone took a sip of their Shuckle-made berry juice and made contented sighs. Ninetales and Florges had been slightly disappointed at their loss, but quickly cheered up when I pointed out how well they did. Making it to the second round was great, but the final battle as well? I was so very proud of them.
With me were six out of the nine members of my team. Ninetales and Florges were still around from their Contest appearance, and the two new members, Dedenne and Carbink, were here as well. I had returned Whimsicott to retrieve Mawile, since I knew he and Altaria got along great and because I didn’t want Mawile to feel punished if she was left out of the party. I’d have to make sure to do something for Altaria, Whimsicott, and Azumarill when I’d next get the chance.
Ponyta was here too, of course, situated right between Mawile and Carbink.
For this meal in particular, Dedenne had greedily argued for absolute equality. I relented, and as a result, everyone here was getting the same sized servings. Ninetales’s plate of food was just as large as Carbink’s, which meant Dedenne’s plate was twice the size of his body.
Carbink’s chunky body meant they were struggling to eat off the low table everyone was seated around, but Ponyta took the initiative to use his Psychic Type powers to levitate food to their mouth. He did so while also bringing food up to his mouth at the same time, which showed off his developing impressive control.
However, I couldn’t help but frown as I saw just how powerful Ponyta was becoming. It wasn’t that I was upset with him, but rather, I was upset with myself.
For the longest time, I’d considered Ponyta a child, even though I knew because he was a Pokémon, he was maturing far faster than anything I was used to. Not only was he already ridiculously mature, his training with the more experienced members of the team meant he had the speed of Florges, the reflexes of Mawile, and a piece of the power of Azumarill. In almost every measurement he was a powerhouse for his age, but I just hadn’t sent him out in battle yet. I couldn’t get past my initial thought he was too young to fight.
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I let my team have a few minutes to eat and chat among themselves, and my smile slowly returned as I watched them all get along. Mawile seemed to be befriending Carbink over their shared experiences, and I couldn’t help but to regret sending her back to the ranch based on flawed reasoning. I had wanted her to get closer to other team members when she was making good friends with Carbink right here.
There were always going to be mistakes when it came to balancing more Pokémon than I could carry. I just hoped I wouldn’t do anything like what I did with Mawile again.
Feeling enough time had passed, I decided to speak up now that everyone was relaxed. I had a few announcements to make, after all.
“I think it’s time for me to properly discuss what exactly I plan to do in Sinnoh, huh?” I asked the group.
Everyone turned to look at me interestedly, although Dedenne seemed to be in a partial daze due to the sheer amount of food he had eaten.
“Overall, we have three major battles to take care of: Roark, Maylene, and Candice. In each one, we’re going to be showing off Mega Evolution to the public on behalf of Sycamore, so Mawile, you and Altaria are going to be doing a lot of work,” I said.
Mawile nodded resolutely in response.
“Contests will continue for as long as Ninetales and Florges want to push it, and any of you are welcome to participate if you wish.” I paused to see if anyone was acting like that was in their interest, but only Ponyta seemed to be considering it. I pressed on. “However, when it comes to Contests, I don’t know if we’ll actually make it to the Grand Festival. We can put in the extra effort to earn the five ribbons required to participate, but it would require extra stops to compete in as many as possible to actually earn them. Give me a heads up soon if you want to try to earn a spot, because that’s something we have to spend the season working on.”
“My main goal, like always, is the Gym Challenge. Our show battles for Sycamore can count for earning our badges, but for our upcoming match with Roark, the Rock Type specialist, I don’t plan for that to be the case. Instead, I’m going to ask you three to battle separately instead.”
I turned to my right where Ponyta, Carbink, and Dedenne were all coincidentally located next to each other. Dedenne shot up on his plate and pretended he had been fully paying attention, while Carbink partially stiffened and put on a brave face. Ponyta’s eyes, however, just glimmered with raw determination. He was raring to go, and once more, I felt guilty at the fact I hadn’t actually included him in any major battles yet.
“That sums up my main goals I want to take care of, but there’s one more thing,” I said hesitantly. “Was anyone paying attention outside their Pokéballs when I was in the Pokémon Center earlier?”
Everyone but Dedenne shook their heads affirmatively. I nodded in approval.
“Good. That makes this easier.” I sighed, letting out a breath to prepare myself to actually say my impending decision. “I think I should aim to catch that Ralts.”
Ninetales had been eating while listening, but she paused when I brought that up.
“I know, I know. I’m rushing into another capture when I’m still directly helping most of you work on things you need to improve. However, I’ve been needing to catch a Ralts for a while, and this kind of fell into our lap. I’ll be honest, I feel a bit selfish catching a Pokémon with the intention of making use of their Teleport move, but a Gardevoir would still bring a lot to the team. While the species shares its Psychic Type with Ponyta, the strategies it would use would be extremely different, focusing on utility moves and special attacks outside of Ponyta’s toolbox. It’s considered a strong species for a reason. And if it wants to be a Gallade? I can make sure it finds the proper trainer to do so.
“...Also, I’m kind of bothered by the fact that the Ralts is so actively searching out battles. I know Pokémon have their own personalities, but it’s completely contrary to the species' natures to get in so many fights so quickly like this one is. I want to make sure it’s actually okay, and to do that, I want to see if it’s willing to join us. If it wants to get stronger, well, you all are all pretty strong already right?”
My team cheered at that once more, although I didn’t actually feel that happy about what I was saying. More specifically, I wasn’t happy with what I was leaving unsaid.
The actions of the Ralts reminded me of Azumarill when I first caught her. Her initial motivation for battling was to gain strength after her previous trainer improperly released her for being weak. Thankfully, her quest for ultimate power evolved into a quest based around her own interests rather than trying to prove she wasn’t weak, but I couldn’t help but to see potential similarities in what the Ralts might be going through. I was a Fairy Type trainer that could help, but more specifically, I had the experience to hopefully give it some comfort.
I admit, part of my motivation could be summed up as a drive to butt into someone else’s problems when they didn’t even ask for help, but this was part of a Pokémon Trainer’s, and in this case, a Fairy Type specialist’s, job. If there was a problem other people couldn’t fix that I could, I had better be there offering my services.
My Pokémon chatted among themselves at the thought of a new team member, and my mind continued to wander, wondering about how that Ralts might be feeling. The protection on my mind didn’t protect my surface thoughts, and as a result of Ponyta’s passive work to hide those as well, he had a decent read on my mood at all times.
While everyone else was chatting excitedly, Ponyta was staring at me. I gave him a soft smile to try to show I was alright, but I couldn’t stop worrying about the Pokémon I had never even met.
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The section of Route 203 that Ralts was said to appear on was a path that ran right through a grove of trees next to a small pond. I glanced up above as we walked and squinted my eyes, just barely making out the faint blue speck of Altaria flying overhead. The sound of hooves hitting the ground came from next to me as Ponyta kept to my side. With Altaria keeping an eye out from above, and Ponyta using his Psychic Type powers to detect any nearby Pokémon, I expected us to know when the Ralts was coming before it appeared before us.
Right now, Florges, Azumarill, and Whimsicott were in Sycamore’s ranch to let Altaria help out here. Since Ponyta hadn’t evolved yet, he still didn’t technically count as the sixth member of my team, so I had an open slot for Ralts if it was willing to be caught.
We were in the process of slowly walking down this segment of the route in hopes of the Ralts challenging us to a battle as we passed by. Although, “challenging” might be the wrong word considering it didn’t usually take “no” for an answer.
Ponyta was ready to try to fight it to get it to stand down, or to weaken it enough for a capture, but he was already a little tired himself. We had been challenged to two different battles today, and he had done well in both.
The first battle was against a freshly caught Starly that had no business trying to defend itself from Ponyta’s ranged attacks. One well placed Psybeam knocked it out of the air, and several quick Fairy Winds finished it off.
The trainer then sent out a Kriketot that was nearing its evolution, which I had Carbink handle instead. Their Light Screen blocked the Bug Type’s Struggle Bug attacks, and they were able to wear it down with their weak version of Ancient Power. I knew Carbink as a species struggled to attack, but I hadn’t expected Carbink in particular to only use a single stone in an attack that classically used at least a dozen.
The second battle was a one-on-one against a trainer and her Bidoof that was surprisingly well trained. It used Defense Curl to curl up into a wheel then tried to charge forward with Rollout. Unfortunately for it, Ponyta simply lifted it off the ground with Confusion, and took it out with Psybeam while it was helpless.
I told them about Bidoof’s hidden ability, Moody, as a way to apologize for the one-sided fight. They were more than excited to see if they could figure out tricks to temporarily bring Bidoof into the mindset required.
After both battles, Ponyta tried his best to practice Heal Pulse. While no wounds got better, touching his horn to his targets did cause their injuries to have reduced pain. It was taking a while, but his healing capabilities were slowly developing.
As I mused about the previous battles, a sudden pressure on my mind alerted me to Ponyta detecting something. I snapped my head up and looked around, finding nothing save for a few trees along the side of the road and a cool blue pond of water half-hidden behind them. I was about to open my mouth to ask if Ponyta was confident Ralts was about to show up, when, with no other signals, the wild Pokémon did.
This Ralts was smaller than Wally’s Gallade had been back when I first met it as a Ralts in Verdanturf. It had the same green bowl cut-like hat and red horn, as well as a white body that shifted as it moved like some kind of jelly-like dress. It appeared from its Teleported position only a few feet away from Ponyta, right in front of us, then immediately Teleported back the second it laid its eyes on me.
I suddenly remembered how the Psychic Type Gym Leaders in Hoenn had reacted to my presence. They said it felt like I just suddenly popped into existence when I got close. I must have given Ralts quite a fright.
Ralts was quick to recover, however, as it forced itself to stand up a bit straighter and shouted its name at Ponyta. It held its small hand out and made a “come at me” gesture not unlike Azumarill’s Swagger, but it wasn’t using a move. It was just challenging us to a fight.
Despite the challenge coming as we expected, Ponyta didn’t move forward just yet. He detected my confusion, and plus, I hadn’t given him the order just yet.
“Are you sure you want to battle?” I asked the wild Ralts in front of us. “You look a bit hurt.”
Indeed, Ralts was covered with scratches and bruises. The green part on its head was scuffed, and parts of its white body were discolored. It paid those no mind, and just spit on the floor in reaction instead.
I was unsure how to proceed.
“How do you want to do this?” I asked Ponyta.
He just took a few steps forward towards the Ralts. I sighed.
“...Alright. Just be careful. I don’t want you or Ralts to get seriously hurt. Avoid using Double-Edge.”
Ralts scoffed at my arrogant comment and jumped into action. It used Teleport to get a bit further away, and the moment Ponyta looked like he was about to charge forward, it reappeared just to his left and immediately opened its mouth to screech out a Growl.
Ponyta stumbled as the intimidating move mildly lowered his willingness to battle, but the thing was, Ponyta had a better version of that move of his own.
“Charm,” I commanded.
Ponyta turned his head towards Ralts but didn’t run towards it. Instead, his eyes flashed pink as he laid a misleading Charm over Ralts’s feelings. The difference in attitude was immediately apparent in the way Ralts briefly hesitated before it used its next attack.
Ponyta took advantage of that.
Properly turning his entire body, Ponyta charged forward in an attempt to slam into Ralts with Tackle. It reacted by demonstrating the experience it gained through various fights over these past few days, and Ponyta passed through an illusion of Ralts where it was just a moment before.
Looking around himself, Ponyta brought himself into a more prepared stance as about a dozen Ralts now surrounded him. While it looked like there were many of them present, in reality, there was still only one since Ralts had conjured them through the use of Double Team.
Unfortunately for Ralts, identifying a Pokémon’s position was one of the first things I worked on with Ponyta, and he immediately turned to let loose a shimmering Psybeam that hit the real Pokémon right in its chest.
Still under the effect of Charm, its eyes went wide under its helmet and stumbled back in pain. It stared at Ponyta with almost a betrayed look in its eyes before its horn glowed blue for a moment, and all signs of hesitancy it had were lost.
I hummed.
Seems that Ralts has a bit of control over its emotional state. Charm won’t last long against it.
Ponyta was still taking the Ralts easy, and I knew he could be handling it a lot better. Ralts Teleported once more to use a Confusion against Ponyta, not lifting him up into the air, but twisting the space around his body. He was hurt by the move but jumped away. As a result, a few red marks from the injuries now appeared on his body.
I decided it was time to mix it up.
“Stay close with Agility. Your choice of attacks, Morning Sun to recover. Focus on exhaustion.”
Using the move Ponyta developed alongside Ninetales all the way back in Hoenn, he ran forward with incredible speed. Building up momentum, he was on Ralts in moments, but Ralts simply Teleported away to get out of his path.
Ponyta stopped, turned to face Ralts at its new location, then dashed forward with the same speed he had before he stopped running. His Psychic Type powers let him preserve his momentum despite all movement briefly ending.
Ralts ended up being forced to Teleport several more times as Ponyta chased after it, not giving it any time to use a single one of its attacks. I couldn’t help but smirk when I realized Ponyta’s eyes had started to stare at Ralts’s future position before it even Teleported. He was clearly far better trained than the wild Pokémon, and Ralts was feeling the pressure.
But then, Ponyta paused in the middle of the road where we were battling, and let all of his momentum completely fade away. Ralts used this break to finally unleash a Confusion against Ponyta, but he broke that attack with a reactive Confusion of his own.
The thing about Ponyta’s current location wasn’t that it was random, but rather it was a spot he purposely chose. There were a few nearby trees that hid the edge of the area in the shade, but the center of the path was completely out in the sun. Holding his horn up, he began to glow as even the smallest of wounds on his body disappeared in the light of the Morning Sun.
Ralts paused and literally glared at Ponyta. Ponyta just stared right back at the wild Pokémon, his face expressionless, but his eyes glittering with amusement.
Looks like Ponyta decided to resort to psychological warfare.
Ralts and Ponyta stood off facing each other for a few moments longer. Tension was thick in the air as the pair of Psychic Types faced off, and I held my breath in anticipation.
Ralts then disappeared with a Teleport.
Ponyta immediately turned around to face me.
I raised an eyebrow.
“What just happened?” I asked.
Looking around, Ralts was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t showing back up with Teleport, nor was it reappearing nearby after resting. As far as I could tell, it had just run away.
I rubbed my head.
“This might be more difficult than I thought.”