CHAPTER 40

As much as I wanted to sleep in after a night of festivities, I couldn’t.

Today was the Silver Conference’s championship match. All the Johto Gym Leaders were expected to be there for the final day and to take part in the closing ceremony, so with great regret, I pulled myself away from the comfort of my bed.

I wasn’t drowsy, though. There were underlying concerns from the League about a possible attack on the stadium. Nothing had happened the last two weeks of the Conference, but we couldn’t be too sure. Not even the expensive coffee beans Rika had gifted me could quell my anxiety.

At least dad enjoyed them.

In an attempt to get my mind off things, I joined dad in reading the daily newspaper. My eyes rapidly scanned the pages of printed information for anything noteworthy. They flew past the daily crossword puzzle (which dad was ninety percent done with already), the obituary section that detailed the death of a local elderly citizen from a sudden heart attack, and upcoming events like graduation ceremonies.

Eventually, my spirits soared when I saw glowing reviews about the Cherrygrove Gym’s grand opening. At least with the locals, the gym’s new look was a hit. I had been worried about backlash considering how I’d basically remodeled the whole thing, but they seemed more than fine with it. A pleased expression graced my features as I folded the newspaper shut. As soon as my gym trainers showed up on time for morning training, I left everything in their hands and Teleported to the stadium.

If I’d thought the first day of the Silver Conference was jam packed, today’s crowds were absolutely insane.

There were still hours to go before the finals started, but there were hardly any unoccupied seats in the stands. Excited voices clamored over one another and became an indistinguishable cacophony of sound. Everybody was either wearing or holding some sort of fan merchandise to show their support for one of the two trainers fighting today. If this was any other time, I might have found myself caught up a little more in the general atmosphere of excitement.

Not today.

As it was, I steeled myself for the tense day ahead and walked to the designated stands for the Indigo Elite Four and Johto Gym Leaders. Half of our group had already arrived. Falkner and Clair were among the ones currently present, but they were sitting around with stiff expressions and rigid postures.

Whitney was the first one to notice me and offer an exuberant greeting.

“Heya, Arin!” Whitney chirped. The pink-haired girl was as energetic as ever as she swung her legs back and forth from her seat. “Did you try the milk yet?”

Milk, milk… It was only when I settled myself into the empty seat next to Morty that I gained any inkling of what Whitney was talking about. Her family had gifted me a set of highly-nutritious Moomoo Milk from their ranch.

“I didn’t, but my Pokemon did. Thanks again for the gift,” I admitted with a sheepish smile. I’d been too busy moping over coffee and the newspaper to think about enjoying breakfast, so I’d gone ahead and distributed the milk to my team instead because it was so fresh.

Whitney wasn’t exactly displeased with my honest answer, but she still pouted a bit as she wagged a finger at me.

“I can’t believe you passed up on our ranch’s Moomoo Milk,” she grumbled lightly to herself. “It’s delicious, you know? I guess I’ll have to give you some more another time.”

The Goldenrod Gym Leader rambled on about the benefits of Moomoo Milk while I blinked slowly in the background. It almost felt like I was on the receiving end of a door-to-door salesman’s pitch. Somehow… this was not what I imagined the atmosphere to be like when I arrived for work. I wondered if Whitney was doing it on purpose to perhaps lighten the mood.

After spying fidgety hands on her lap, that hunch further cemented itself. Looked like she was worried about a potential attack on the stadium, too.

“Pfft.”

A glance to my right revealed Morty attempting — and failing — to hide a smile of amusement from me.

“She won’t stop until you try their ranch’s products sometime,” Morty warned me in a voice full of mirth. “Proud of the family business, that one.”

“I could kind of tell,” I quipped back in a whisper. It was nice to see how much Whitney cared about her family.

“Anyway, allow me to extend my thanks again for the party last night. It was great getting to talk to people from other regions. I heard so many interesting stories from them.”

“No problem, I’m glad you had fun. Now where’s Jas? She never responded in the group chat last night…”

I chatted idly with Morty while waiting for the rest of the Gym Leaders to arrive. It seemed like everyone, not just Whitney, was trying to keep themselves optimistic for the day ahead of us. Lance came over at one point to let me know he’d safely seen off all the foreign dignitaries. He also thanked me for last night’s wine with an expression like he wanted more, and I made a mental note to bribe him with good alcohol someday should I need a favor from him.

Minutes passed, and the rest of the missing Gym Leaders eventually trickled into our part of the stands. It was honestly interesting seeing how everyone carried themselves.

Pryce walked over with brisk strides and sat down without sparing a glance to anyone. The only reaction he gave was the slight twitching of one of his brows as we chatted loudly around him. Bugsy glided across the ground much more softly and greeted us with shy smiles, and he rambled on about last night’s party with stars in his eyes. I was starting to grow fond of this kid as a sort of younger sibling.

In comparison to both of them, Chuck’s arrival was much louder.

“WAHAHA! Morning, everyone!” the man guffawed as he stomped towards us. I only got a moment’s warning before he heartily clapped me on both shoulders, grinning widely. “Sorry again I couldn’t make it to the grand opening, Arin. Wife and I had a great vacation, though. Here’s our gift to you.”

I expected something akin to Lt. Surge’s gift, but Chuck handed me a nice-looking pouch instead. When I peeked inside, I saw it was brimming with herbal medicines. All of them were Cianwood specialties.

“Good for fatigue and training injuries, stuff like that,” Chuck supplied helpfully, and he offered me a thumbs-up. “You’re still up for training with me this summer, right?”

“Of course,” I instantly replied, nodding vigorously. “I’ll come visit sometimes. Maybe we could even arrange group training sessions with some of the other Gym Leaders? I was already planning to train with Morty and Jas this summer as well.”

I glanced at Morty while I said that, but he didn’t look put-off by the idea. In fact, he was nodding his head with a contemplative smile.

Chuck, on the other hand, loved it.

“EXCELLENT!” he boomed, and I struggled not to fall forward as he shook my hand energetically. “The more, the merrier!”

Chuck was still laughing as he took a seat in the row behind me. Meanwhile, Lance had leaned over from his own seat to peer at me with interest.

“Did I hear that right? You’re all thinking about group training sessions?” he asked with raised brows.

I nodded.

“You want to join?” I asked casually, and Morty almost coughed reflexively into his fist. I didn’t see what the big deal was to be honest. Training was training, and I’d long been thinking about sparring with Lance anyway. Who cared if he was the Champion of Indigo and our boss? My team needed good workouts to stay in shape.

If the pleased expression on Lance’s face was anything to go by, the idea was quite agreeable with him as well.

“I would be honored to,” he said simply, but the ferocious edge to his newfound smile led me to believe that he was more than a little interested in fighting. I thought the conversation was going to end there, but Bruno piped up from his seat next to Lance.

“Sounds interesting. Could I get an invitation as well?” the man asked in a low yet polite voice.

At this point, Morty looked like he wanted to be anywhere but the stadium, yet I couldn’t have been more pleased in comparison. I didn’t know much about Bruno as a person, but I did know that he and his Pokemon were strong.

“Why not?” I said with a playful shrug of my shoulders.

None of us saw a certain male with blue hair or a woman with turquoise hair cast the briefest of surreptitious glances in our direction.

Lance stroked his chin with a hand. He looked lost in thought. “It could be worth hosting training sessions at the League HQ between the Indigo elites this summer. Hmm…”

I turned away from his mutterings when Jasmine finally Teleported into existence nearby. She was the last person to show up, and she looked awfully tired. Any notions Morty and I might have had about teasing her further about Volkner died away instantly.

“Are you okay?” I asked. Jasmine nodded wearily as she plopped into the empty seat next to me.

“Just some issues this morning at the docks, but nothing to worry about,” Jasmine replied. A heavy sigh escaped her as she patted down the wrinkled hem of her dress. “There were people trying to smuggle drugs. The police are tracking them down right now.”

Morty and I both looked at her with sympathy. Olivine was a huge port city to take care of and one of the most densely-populated cities in Johto, period. They typically got a lot of traders and tourists coming through their gates with high crime rates to match all the traffic.

We could only give props to Jasmine for handling all the stress that came with managing such a city.

“Cheer up,” Morty said soothingly. “We’ll get to train with Lance this summer. And Bruno.”

“That sounds great— wait, what?” Jasmine halted mid-sentence. Almost robotically, she turned her head to look at us with a stupefied expression.

Morty held his hands up in mock surrender as he glanced over at me.

“Not me. It was him.”

“Oh, come on, it’s just sparring…”

We kept conversing to pass the time. I was glad to see that neither Morty or Jasmine (or Lance, now that I thought about it) appeared to have drunk too much wine the night before. None of them were outwardly showing any visible symptoms of a hangover, but I had no idea if they were putting on fronts or not.

What I did know was that Alder had definitely been drunk last night, and Siebold had promised to safely drop off the inebriated man given that he’d hardly touched any of the wine. Alder was probably going to wake up with a nasty hangover back home in Unova, but I had no sympathy for him.

He deserved it for bailing out of a good fight.

The crowds somehow got even rowdier while we were waiting. People waved their flags around and cheered when a blimp with a monitor attached to it passed over the stadium. I caught glimpses of random spectators on the screen as it switched between different viewpoints. Several different logos had been emblazoned on the blimp’s side, including ones for Silph Co. and a few other technology companies based in the Kanto-Johto region.

The last day of the Silver Conference was going to start soon. Sure enough, Lance got everyone’s attention at one point by clapping his hands together.

We fell silent immediately as he stood in front of us with a serious gaze.

“The last two weeks of the Silver Conference were peaceful, but we don’t know if they’ll choose to do anything on the last day,” Lance told us. One of his hands clenched into a fist at his side. “Ho-Oh forbid that anything happens, but be ready at a moment’s notice to take action.”

He sat back down with a flick of his cape. Any conversation after that was more subdued as we waited for the proceedings to begin. We all shared Lance’s hope that nothing would happen.

Eventually, it came time for a short speech from President Aoma to kick off the last day of the Conference. In it, he espoused the ideals of sportsmanship, respect, and passion for following one’s dreams. It was an eloquent speech in all honesty, but while the crowds listened to it, they remained restless.

They weren’t here for the speech. The moment President Aoma finished talking and an emcee dressed in a fancy costume took his place, the crowds went wild with loud cheers.

Yes, they were here for the main event: the finals.

The emcee’s voice boomed throughout the stadium from his microphone as he introduced the trainers fighting today. Around the dome, gigantic screens lit up with pictures and names to match what he was saying.

Today, one of these trainers was going to walk away as the winner of this year’s Conference and be awarded with all the privileges that came with it. One of those was the opportunity to challenge the Indigo Elite Four within a year. There were other ways the Indigo Elite Four could be challenged, but they were either harder to pass or the Elite Four had the option of declining a challenge request.

At least with the privilege granted to the annual Conference winner, it ensured a guaranteed match against the top trainers of our country and was highly sought-after as a result.

I briefly glanced at the stadium screens and committed their names to memory. Nori Higuchi and Hana Eldbeth. I didn’t know much if at all anything about either of them aside from what the emcee was spouting (they had been trainers for five and four years respectively), but the fact that they’d made it here to the finals was a testament to their skill.

I wondered vaguely if I’d see either of them challenge my Gym in the fall.

The stands practically reverberated from roars and stamping feet as the trainers emerged from their waiting rooms onto the field below. I ran a hand over one of my Pokeballs, trying to calm myself with the touch of the cool metal.

Without further ado, the trainers released their first contenders, and the championship began.

It was a good match from start to end. It had to be considering these two had toppled every other trainer in the country to make it this far. Even though I was ready to spring into action at the first sign of trouble like Lance wanted, I found myself picking a favorite before the match was over.

My favorite of the two, Hana Eldbeth, won like I thought she would, and the crowd screamed their approval.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur. There were congratulatory remarks from President Aoma, a small intermission (Lance privately excused himself to go talk about rewards with the top three finalists), then a banquet dedicated to all of the Conference goers, and then finally, finally, the closing ceremony.

A stage with spotlights had been set up on the stadium’s base level, and I stood there now with the other Johto Gym Leaders in a neat line. Lance was busy speaking into a microphone and congratulating everyone for their hard work. Even though the top-ranking finalists got trophies and bigger rewards, all Conference-goers at least received a small medal for managing to make it this far.

“This is not the end,” Lance stated powerfully into his microphone. “Raise your heads. Come challenge the Silver Conference again. The Gym Leaders await you, and so do I and the Indigo Elite Four. I thank everyone for their valiant efforts in this year’s Conference, and may the embers of glory burn ever brighter in the next one!”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

I couldn’t help but ruminate on that one line of Lance’s even as I clapped alongside the crowds and teary-eyed competitors.

The Gym Leaders await you.

In just two months, I’d be one of the obstacles these people would have to get through if they wanted to qualify for the Silver Conference. I couldn’t help but feel fired up at that thought.

I would give them suitable challenges to meet their expectations.

In better news, nothing had happened even during the Silver Conference’s final moments. Lance had us stick around to keep an eye on the stadium and surrounding areas as people left for home. Needless to say, it took a long time given the scale of the event. We had stragglers who bought last-minute things at stalls on their way out, missing kids who had to be reunited with their parents…

We also had some reckless Conference-goers who actually had the guts to come up to Lance and ask for permission to enter Mt. Silver right away now that they had the qualifications. Lance’s eye twitched, but he managed to calmly tell them to prepare supplies first and ask again another day.

I pitied him.

Eventually, Silver Town became little more than a ghost town. It would come back to life the following summer, but until then, it would be home only to a few permanent residents. With this, the Silver Conference was officially over, and the Johto League Circuit had truly ended. Lance dismissed us, and I couldn’t have been happier to go home.

I was tired from basically sitting all day, but I was glad nothing bad happened. I also felt more excited than ever to get my Gym ready in time for the next Johto League Circuit. I hummed as I Teleported into my private office and notified everyone of my arrival through the gym’s group chat. It was too late today, but I could get work started tomorrow—

I jumped when heavy knocks pounded against the office entrance. I barely got out a come in before the door flew wide open. Neil strode in with a frown, and he announced words I realized I would really come to dislike during my tenure as a Gym Leader.

“Arin, we’ve got a problem.”

“What is it?” I instantly asked. I was already following Neil out the door and through the halls to the first floor.

“Protestors,” Neil grunted out, and my brows flew up to my hairline. “We got them to leave earlier, but I think they realized you’d be back from the Silver Conference by now, so they came back in full force.”

“‘Protestors?’” I echoed incredulously. Disbelief bubbled up within me, but I kept a lid on it as we went down the stairs. We were coming up on the front doors now. “What is this about?”

Neil gave me the briefest rundown he could in just a few short sentences. Apparently, the protestors had come all the way from Mulberry City over in Kanto as well as two other small towns. I had no idea where any of those were on the map, but I recognized them as being the locations of Kanto’s minor gyms… which led into the meat of the situation.

According to Neil, they were furious over the fact the Cherrygrove Gym had successfully entered the ranks of the major gyms through a revised test and found it unfair to the other minor gyms. They also felt threatened by the existence of a ninth major gym in Johto and were spouting shit about power imbalances between Kanto and Johto now.

My mind was still whirling with all this information when we got within distance of the automatic doors.

“Brace yourself,” Neil said. He said that, but I still wasn’t prepared for the sheer volume of angry voices when the doors opened and we stepped out.

“THERE HE IS!”

“BOYCOTT THE CHERRYGROVE GYM!”

“Fuck Johto! Stop taking all the power for yourselves!”

And so on and so forth. There was a massive crowd of protestors — mostly older people — being held back by our team of security guards, and a lot of them were holding signs with not-so-nice messages in their hands. They jabbed fingers at me and made snarling expressions while I did my best to process the situation.

I had been born in a time when Kanto and Johto had already unified as Indigo, so I’d never thought much about it growing up… but it seemed like lingering resentment and distrust were still far-rooted in the minds of the older generation. I was obviously fully aware of the strained history between Kanto and Johto before we became one country, but it had never hit me before that this was something people still dwelled on.

Still, to protest my Gym over it? This was a peaceful era. Gyms weren’t so much symbols of military strength anymore so much as they were symbols of peace and education. They were institutions for trainers to come to and learn from.

It wasn’t like I was the one who had changed the promotion test proctor, and it wasn’t like it was my fault I had met the League’s admittedly vague requirements for becoming a major gym. I couldn’t believe I had to deal with this right after coming back from playing babysitter at the Silver Conference all day. As if I didn’t already have enough things to do and work on this summer…

Arceus. I felt like a Psyduck with a headache coming on.

I couldn’t hope to engage them in a logical discussion. These people looked furious enough that I doubted they would listen to anything I said, and it would probably incite them further if I tried making any points of mine heard. Honestly, it might have been a mistake for me to even show up before them, too, but that was a moot point by now.

I tried not to let my shoulders slump with weariness as I turned to Neil.

“Have the security team peacefully escort them off the grounds,” I said, and I made sure to emphasize the peaceful part. I didn’t want the protestors to have more… ammo… to come at us with. “And kindly tell them to go to the League HQ if they have complaints. Sorry you had to deal with this while I was gone, Neil.”

I was the wrong person to go to with their anger. If those protestors wanted to get something done, they needed to go to the source of it all. I simultaneously thanked and apologized to Neil as I went back inside to take a warp tile back to my house.

I was already typing up a message to Lance letting him know about this newfound protestor development as I walked through the backyard. A sigh slipped out of my mouth.

So much for having a nice start to the summer.

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

The following morning, I shuffled around in my office decorating it.

This was technically my first day on the job inside of my official workplace — my Gym — and it felt great. Now that the Silver Conference had ended, the Indigo Conference had begun. Lance and the Kanto Gym Leaders were over at the Plateau watching over the opening ceremony. Us Johto Gym Leaders had orders to be on standby at our Gyms in case anything happened.

I was more than happy to follow that order, and I took the time to spruce up my office.

I’d hung Mina’s painting and two of Hassel’s down below in the gym lobby, but I kept one of Hassel’s in my office. The one of me and dad was hanging at home. Sometimes I caught dad staring at it for minutes at a time with a sad smile, and my heart ached for some reason.

I carefully decorated the rest of the office with various gym-warming gifts I’d gotten. Evolution stones were pulled out and put on display on a shelf in neat rows. It probably would have been a bad idea anywhere else, but my personal office was as secure as they came. I doubted anyone was going to try or even make it through here.

After some thought, I left the odd Fire Stone look-alike I’d gotten from Blaine on top of my desk as a paperweight. I would have put it with the other evolution stones, but it didn’t quite fit in with its tiny ember that looked on the verge of being snuffed out completely.

Sabrina’s gift was utilized as well. As strange as the dolls and amulets looked, I would have felt bad if I left them around to collect dust considering the Saffron Gym Leader had gone out of her way to visit and drop something off.

I did have Silque check them, though, just to see if there was anything weird. They came out clean, but Silque noted there actually appeared to be some form of good luck or positive energy at the very least imbued into them. I wondered not for the first time what kind of powers Indigo’s best human psychic had exactly.

I placed the amulets at even intervals in my room but placed them in hard-to-see places like under my desk or behind bookshelves. I wasn’t ashamed of them, but I wondered if people would feel startled if they saw strange-looking talismans when they entered my office. The kokeshi dolls were placed one-for-one on my desk and a nearby bookshelf.

…The longer I looked at the one on my desk, the more I thought it seemed kind of cute. Oh no.

I was just wrapping up decorating my office when Neil came in and told me we had a problem. Again.

The protestors had come back.

I resisted dragging a hand down my face and sighed instead. “Tell them to take it up with the League. They’re not going to accomplish anything here—”

Both Neil and I jumped when an alarm blared out from my phone. I’d strapped it to my wrist, and I looked down at it now with wide eyes. That was a ringtone I’d designated for when Lance sent out emergency alerts to the Gym Leaders. An incoming group call was reflected on the screen.

I didn’t have to shoo out Neil since he hurriedly left the office of his own accord to give me privacy. I immediately entered the call.

“League forces near Route 27 found Rockets,” Lance informed us in a rush. That was the route near Tohjo Falls if I remembered correctly, the very one that bled into Kanto territory. “They’ve already run outside checks, and this is the biggest base they’ve found yet. The Kanto Gym Leaders, Elite Four, and I can’t leave the stadium in case something happens here. Assuming these grunts are as weak as the ones we’ve fought before, I don’t think there will be much of an issue, but… I’m going to need all Johto Gym Leaders to back up the League forces stationed there in case anything happens.”

Protestors and now this. It really seemed like this summer was not going to be as peaceful as I hoped. I had to warp back to my house briefly to gather all my Pokemon, but when I came back to my office, there was a League Kadabra waiting to fetch me already.

I blinked, and suddenly I was in a thick, forested area with other Gym Leaders and League Trainers standing around me. A large river flowed downstream where I assumed it eventually connected with the southern seas.

This was the first Rocket operation I’d personally taken part in since that first night. Any operations since then had mostly been handled by the League Trainers themselves since the combat levels of the Rockets were on the lower end, and we hadn’t needed to come in for assistance. That didn’t mean I was any less tense, though. The other Gym Leaders around me looked the same.

We were still on a joint call with Lance and the Leaders back at the Indigo Stadium. According to Lance, there was a building deeper in the forest that appeared to have been built a few months ago. Estimated forces were around five hundred. He wanted us to secure the perimeter for now, but we had the ability to move in if needed. The operation had already started moments before we arrived.

This was a forested area very close to the Mt. Silver Range’s outskirts, so Lance’s only warning was to try and capture the Rockets before they got too far into the mountain range. None of us wanted to stir up the wild Pokemon and add more problems onto the pile.

I released a few Pokemon around me as well as Brie and Zuzu into the nearby river. Those two would be following some other League Pokemon downstream, just in case Rockets somehow got past us and tried escaping by sea. A League Trainer came by and handed me a communications device when I was done.

I had just finished putting on the comms link when the line crackled to life.

“Squad Two Captain speaking. We’ve engaged Team Rocket grunts by the northern checkpoints.”

“Squad Three. We’ve successfully infiltrated through the roof.”

It seemed like the League Trainers had it handled, but us Gym Leaders stayed at the ready on the perimeter anyway. In front of us was a makeshift table with a cluster of monitors atop it. We could see in real time what each squad captain was seeing through small cameras attached to their helmets. Back at the stadium, Lance and the Kanto Gym Leaders had a similar setup going on to help them keep tabs on the situation.

“Squad One Captain here. Some Rockets are fleeing through the forest. We’re already in pursuit. Squad Four, get ready to intercept them—”

The League Trainer suddenly paused.

“They stopped. Rockets have bunkered down behind stone barricades near a field of red and white mushrooms. We’re moving in.”

So they’d chosen to stay and make a last stand instead. I watched the monitor’s scene shake back and forth from running movement. It was hard, but I could make out ugly gray walls of stone in the far back and the mushrooms the League Trainer had pointed out. The forests near Mt. Silver were usually home to a variety of unusual plants, and these appeared to be no exception.

Unlike the vibrantly red mushrooms one could often find growing on the backs of Paras, these were dull and almost sickly looking. The sight was certainly a sharp contrast with the leafy fronds and colorful wildflowers nestled between them. They were also incredibly large mushroom caps with… I almost couldn’t see them through all the shaking… wart-like protrusions across their surfaces—

My eyes widened in horrific realization. I yelled out a warning into my mic just as someone else did. Lt. Surge’s urgent roar, I belatedly realized.

“STOP! GET OUT OF THERE—”

“IT’S A TRAP! THOSE ARE—”

Instead of coherent words, all we got were pained screams and then silence.

The line and cameras for Squad One went dead. Blinding smoke had filled the monitors before they shut off, but I had already taken off with the other Gym Leaders hot on my heels.

If I was right, if those were the Pokemon I thought they were—

I couldn’t finish that thought. First, we needed to back up the League Trainers.

Following verbal instructions from League Trainers on standby, we ran through the forest to where Squad One had last been spotted.

My stomach twisted uncomfortably when I saw people crawling on the ground with half-melted skin. The ground had been dissolved in sections from bubbling acid.

And the perpetrators? The mushrooms had pulled themselves out of the ground by the dozen and stared at us with bloodshot eyes. They looked more sickly and… deformed than I was used to, but I knew these Pokemon.

Fuck. I’d guessed right after all. These were Amoonguss. It begged the question of how Team Rocket had gotten their hands on Unova Pokemon considering how tight their country’s security was, but we had to focus on the matter at hand.

The Rockets who had been bunkering down behind the stone barricades were gone.

Had they been smart enough to lead the League Trainers into a trap? I didn’t know.

“They’re Grass and Poison type Pokemon!” I yelled out. There’d be time after the operation to explain in more detail, but this would have to do.

The Amoonguss had already reared back their heads and arms in preparation for another wave of poison perhaps, but Grima beat them to the punch. My Grimmsnarl bellowed twice in a one-two combo and sent a wave of Dark type energy spinning through the vicinity. Taunt and Torment went into play simultaneously, and the Amoonguss stuttered in place as their limbs locked up from momentary confusion.

That was all the time Pryce needed to follow up. Howling winds of ice and snow came sweeping forward from his Delibird, and I had to dig my heels into the ground to avoid being blown away. When I looked back up, the rows of Amoonguss had transformed into frozen statues.

“Find the Rockets!” Pryce snapped without delay.

Falkner, Chuck, and Morty decided to take on that role and split up from us to head deeper into the forest. Meanwhile, the rest of us stayed behind to help the League Trainers as best we could. Closer inspection revealed that they’d gotten hit with everything from Sludge Bomb to Toxic to what looked like lingering spores from Rage Powder.

Whitney and I were doing the bulk of the work here with our respective healer Pokemon. Audi and Whitney’s Blissey and Chansey were doing their best to alleviate pain. They were able to treat injured League Pokemon well, but there was only so much they could do for human beings. I couldn’t have felt more thankful when the combat medics finally showed up with medicine and antidotes in hand.

Now that there was finally some breathing space, Pryce turned to me with an expression that bordered on cold.

“Explain. You said they were Grass and Poison type Pokemon?” he said tersely.

I didn’t bother nitpicking with his tone due to the urgency of the situation. I was still on the line with the rest of the League forces on standby as well as Lance and the others at the stadium, so I addressed all of them as I answered.

“Amoonguss. It’s a Pokemon species native to Unova,” I explained. I heard sharp intakes of breath from… Lance, maybe, but I couldn’t be too sure. I tried not to grimace as I clenched one of my hands into a fist. “If only I’d recognized them earlier… We wouldn’t have had casualties.”

“Not your fault. I should be the one feeling guilty if anything,” Lt. Surge said gruffly through the line. He sounded quite pissed. “Fucking hell. I should have been able to recognize those overgrown mushrooms considering they’re from my hometown. Worst slipup I’ve had in awhile.”

Lt. Surge was from Unova? I vaguely recalled hearing somewhere he was from a foreign country, but now I knew for sure. My attention went back to the matter at hand as more people talked around me and assessed the wounded.

Two people had… died on the spot from lethal doses of poison and blood loss. The situation didn’t look great for the other wounded soldiers because the poison from Amoonguss wasn’t exactly something medical professionals saw on a day-to-day basis, but they still cobbled together remedies for the time being. The soldiers were stable for now but not completely cured. Later, they’d be transported to the League HQ. The Kyou Clan of ninjas was also going to be called in to help given their wide knowledge on poisons and antidotes.

The Gym Leaders who’d split up from us still hadn’t returned, and the youngest Gym Leaders in our group — Bugsy and Whitney — looked a bit faint as they stared at the fallen soldiers on the ground. I wanted to reach out and comfort them, but Jasmine beat me to the punch.

Even if this was part of our duties as Gym Leaders, it wasn’t easy seeing innocent people get hurt like this.

I rubbed my temple with my hand. We were going to have to hold a meeting at the League HQ after this probably—

The sound of something shattering made all thoughts fly out of my mind.

I whipped my head around in time to see an Amoonguss somehow break free of its icy prison and fire a volley of filthy sludge point-blank at a League Trainer. It would have certainly melted the person’s face off, too, if Clair’s Dragonair hadn’t thrown up a glimmering shield in time. Protect.

The attack was somehow so powerful that it actually rattled the Protect a bit and produced a crack. Clair’s eyes widened, and so did mine.

It was that strong? How the hell did it even break free? Pryce’s Pokemon weren’t slouches when it came to freezing their opponents. It was now that I studied the Amoonguss more closely. Was it just me, or was it breathing unevenly?

Something wasn’t right here, but there was no time to talk. I heard more ominous cracking sounds, and my Pokemon situated themselves around me before I even gave out orders.

All at once, the rest of the Amoonguss burst out their frozen confinement and attacked indiscriminately. Their eyes looked more bloodshot than ever, and I thought I even saw veins close to bursting. Everyone on our side threw up barriers and Protects to keep us shielded as globs of poison and suspicious looking powders filled the air and obscured it completely.

Out of all of us, Pryce was decidedly the most annoyed with this turn of events.

“Freeze them again!” he yelled at his Pokemon.

That was the only warning we got before the world was enveloped in white. Wind howled so loudly in my ears that I couldn’t hear anything else.

When at last I could see again, the Amoonguss were definitely down for the count this time. The ground around them had been gouged by trails of fading crystals, and it looked like they’d been imprisoned in gigantic tubes of icy amber. Sheer Cold, if I had to guess.

My heart was still pounding from the sudden scare when new reports came in over the comms link.

Another squad down by the river had come into contact with an unknown Pokemon, bass-like fish with red or blue stripes. They weren’t the only ones. One more squad found themselves fighting gigantic, trash-like Pokemon. I recognized both descriptions.

Lt. Surge was already yelling out information about these Pokemon over the comms link — Basculin and Garbodor, he said — but I couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread settling over me as I rushed to the next location with the other Gym Leaders.

Unova Pokemon in Kanto. What did this mean?

The Team Rocket situation had just gotten a little more complicated.