The Underground: Issue #1

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From the Editor: You are now holding the inaugural issue of the Canalave Library’s periodical fanzine, The Underground. The Library was created as a creative forum for content creators in the PokÊmon fandom, and the Underground exists as a showcase of the best work of the moment on the forum. While I could make all kinds of lofty claims about the contents of the zine, I believe the caliber of the work within speaks for itself. All I will say is that the Underground seeks to promote and publish the best this diverse and creative fandom has to offer, and we hope that you, the readers, will continue to enrich our community through your engagement.

With the Underground, we hope to integrate modern technology and distribution methods, the bustling and active creative scene of this fandom, and the model set forth by entrenched literary magazines to bring you regular serialized and syndicated content of our favorites stories from the Library. Within this issue, we have the start of several long and sprawling stories, as is only fitting for a community whose story is only just beginning. We hope that as our community continues to grow and flourish, our writers and readership do the same. So I cordially welcome to the Canalave Library, and the Underground!

Now, on to the good stuff.

Very truly yours, Firebrand Editor-in-Chief

-03

Contents 4 18

Selfish Perceptions eldestOyster

PokĂŠmon Mystery Dungeon: Guiding Light Ambyssin

46

Ionization

54

Foul Play

68

Shattered Selves

86

The Amazing Hawlucha Man

96

Electric Sheep

Phalanx

Bay

Vulpi

Firebrand

JX Valentine

THE UNDERGROUND

-05

Selfish Perceptions by eldestOyster “Strong pokémon. Weak pokémon.

That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favourites.”

Some eyes rolled; a murmur or two ran through the auditorium. Everyone knew this shtick, after all. Karen had been saying that sort of thing for years, since long before she got the Elite Four position – and this was the sort of audience that knew these things, that remembered when Karen was a career trainer, without the vast machinery of the League to back her up. Amateurs were like that, compensating for their inability to compete on the pro circuit with a doubled dedication for industry trivia.

“Okay, but like, what am I gonna do with a zubat against a skarmory?” whispered Connie. Sam said nothing back. She did think about saying that maybe you could confuse it, but it wasn’t a conversation she really wanted to have. Especially not now, while Karen was still speaking.

“You’ve heard this before,” Karen continued, apparently unperturbed by the reaction she was getting. “But it’s something that bears repeating. We’re all trainers here” (Mostly, anyway, thought Sam: this was a meeting of the Goldenrod University Trainers’ Society, but a guest speaker as big as Karen always drew a crowd.) “and I think that it’s something that can very easily get forgotten. We’re always looking for something else, a pokémon that will best complement the strengths and weaknesses of our existing team.

And yet some of the best trainers in the world have made a career out of limiting themselves.”

She paused to take a sip of her water.

By her heels, her umbreon, Toadstone, scanned the crowd, her markings glowing yellow against the shadowy blackness of her hide. In a way, Sam thought, it was pretty cool even just to see her in the flesh. She was one of those pokémon whose prowess gives them an almost legendary aura; Sam

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couldn’t even count how often she’d seen her in those televised matches, calmly shrugging off whatever the opponent had to throw at her. Seeing her up there on the stage was strange, like if she’d caught sight of a cartoon character at the supermarket. Strange, but cool.

“I’m talking, of course, about League trainers,” said Karen. “Most of us are committed to a type that we have a special appreciation for. Or – like myself – we have a theme.” A little self-deprecating smile: Karen’s loose interpretation of what constituted a dark-type had been a sticking point with the League for years. Most of the old guard didn’t really think that gengar or vileplume counted. “And, in defiance of all the conventional wisdom that says focusing on just one type makes you weaker rather than stronger, I’d like to think that we win more often than we lose.”

“But we’re not all League standard,” muttered Connie. “Like okay, maybe if you’re Karen you can take down a machamp with a houndoom, but …”

“Would you cut it out?” hissed Sam. “I’m trying to listen.”

“Is this about Comet? honestly, I don’t think—”

Because,

“Ssh!” But it was about Comet, of course.

Sam’s ledian sat placidly in her lap, waiting for his human to be done

with whatever it was she was up to now, the star markings on his shell slowly expanding as the hour grew later. As always, Sam was acutely aware of the difference between him and the other pokémon in the room: Connie’s ninetales, curled by her chair with her head on her paws; the Society secretary’s exeggutor, looming out of the shadows at the side of the auditorium; Jack’s hitmonchan, folded up awkwardly along not-quite-human joints on a chair of its own, two rows away. Like most people, Sam had let the greater part of her active team go at the end of her trainer journey, making it clear to them that they had got the strength that they wanted from her and there was no more to give; and again, like most people, she had kept her closest partner, who was happier with her than without.

That partner was Comet. And Comet was, by a long, long way, the weakest battler of all the pokémon whose partners were part of the Trainers’ Society.

“Tonight I’d like to talk to you about thinking outside the box,” Karen said.

“Do you know how many skarmory and feraligatr I’ve faced in the last twelve months alone? I’m actually sort of surprised there’s anything left up there in the mountains.” It wasn’t so funny, really, but some people laughed. “And they’re all running the same tactics,” she continued. “And they’re all of them surprised when they lose. Because

-07

they’re not thinking, you see? They’re looking at what works for other people, and the idea is, well, that will work for me too.”

She paused to look out at the audience, at various faces in turn. For a moment, her eyes were on Sam’s (or she thought they were) and Sam felt her pulse quicken with excitement. Comet felt it too, and looked up at her with a curious tilt of his armoured head; she patted him absently, gaze locked on the figure up on stage.

“The thing is – if you’re only looking at what works for other people, you’re never going to find out what it is that really works for you. That’s life advice for you, as well as a training tip. If you’re partnered with a skarmory – great! Good for you. I’m sorry for all the broken doors, but still, good for you.”

That got more of a laugh: everyone knew someone or other whose skarmory had learned to open doors with its talons, and accidentally smashed a lot of locks in the process.

“But that’s not all of us,” Karen said. “We’re not all professionals, are we? Even those of us who are can’t always afford to support the big, tough pokémon that people say you need to get ahead. If you’re raising a skarmory or a feraligatr, that’s a lot of fresh meat, and a lot of rocks too, for a skarmory.

Maybe you think you can’t win if you can’t field a strong pokémon like that.

But like I said, not everyone does field

what you might think of as a strong pokémon. Bugsy, down in Azalea, has beaten challengers with a metapod before. Strength and weakness aren’t absolute. It’s all about how you work with your pokémon, and part of being League – of restricting yourself and your choice of partners – is figuring out how to do just that.”

Yes. Sam remembered that fight well enough. She was a Blackthorn girl, and she went clockwise around Johto, down through Cherrygrove to Azalea and on to Ilex Forest. Obviously she and Comet weren’t tough enough to take on Clair – or any Gym Leader, really – right away, and nor was Falkner’s flying-type Gym Sam’s idea of a good start for someone with a single bug-type to her name, so Bugsy was her first, a little over a month into her journey.

It was a good thing it took her so long to get there, really. They say eighty per cent of people fail their first challenge, and if she and Comet hadn’t had so much time to train on the long hike south, Sam would probably have numbered among those first-time failures. But she took her time, held out pads for Comet to practise punching and worked to teach him how to raise a reflect or a light screen, and they just, just about managed to earn that badge.

Bugsy tried the metapod trick on her, knowing that Comet wouldn’t be tough enough to penetrate its defences while it glued up his wings with string shot and prevented him from flying away

THE UNDERGROUND

beyond its reach; his strategy worked, but in the end it came down to Comet and the metapod rolling around in the arena and thumping each other weakly, and the metapod was the one that ran out of energy first.

Kind of embarrassing, really, that it was so close. But they won, didn’t they?

And okay, it wasn’t a great tactical triumph, but it was her first badge, and on the first try, too. That counted for a lot. Still did.

She glanced surreptitiously at Connie, to see if she had anything else mocking to say, but apparently not; she was watching Karen in silence, interested now that talk of actual tactics was coming up. Figures, she thought. That’s why everyone came, right? Hot tips from one of the most adaptable tacticians of the Indigo League. Because you can always be a little better, can’t you? Unless you happen to be sentimental enough to have stuck by your ledian, even after you joined TrainerSoc and remembered why it was that he slipped more and more out of rotation in the second year of your journey. Then you’re kind of screwed.

The thought felt somehow mean, and Sam slipped her arms around Comet to try and make up for it in some way. He clicked, antennae twitching in surprise, and wrapped his own arms around hers in that particular four-way ledian grip.

Sometimes she suspected his cuteness

was an act meant to make her give him attention and/or treats, but that didn’t mean she didn’t indulge him anyway. “… Whitney, for instance,” Karen was saying. “How many people base their strategy on pheromone manipulation? No one: it’s tricky and unreliable. Yet I’d be willing to bet not many of you have come up against her miltank and seen her fail. And like all niche strategies, it’s hard to counter.

We all know what to do when we see a stallmory; it’s much harder to deal with something we’re more used to seeing grazing on a farm using a technique none of us have bothered learning.”

“Yeah,” murmured Connie to herself.

“Yeah, that was a tough one …”

It really was, especially for someone whose pokémon weren’t really tough enough to take hits. Comet was a ledian by then, which helped; he threw a lot of punches, but ledian are more about quantity than quality, and he didn’t really make much impression. More useful was his reflect, which just about held the relentless rollout at bay long enough for Clef, her nidorina, to kick the miltank down.

But that was then. That was then, at the start of a trainer journey, where if you just try hard you’re kind of guaranteed to come home with at least a couple of badges, because after all everyone expects you to and the Gym Leaders aren’t mean enough to take that away from you. It gets trickier

-09

later on. So you get more and tougher pokémon, and you get by, and then later you release them to keep just the one you really love and who really loves you.

And then you get back into battling and, well … this was why she came tonight, right? Get some inspiration from the one League member who really believes that anyone can win, with anything. “… that was in fact very effective,” Karen was saying, talking now about League challengers who’ve come at her with interesting and unusual teams. “It came down to Toadstone, in the end, and I think even she thought we were about to lose for a moment there.”

Toadstone looked up at her sharply and growled, pawing at the floorboards of the stage, and Sam laughed along with the rest of them as Karen shrugged and smiled. Comet buzzed his wings in her lap, unnerved by the sudden noise, and Sam tightened her grip momentarily to put him at his ease.

“Okay,” said Karen. “If you say so, Toad. But it was a close match. I’d never seen anyone combine magnet bomb and discharge like that before.

And that’s why it was so close: because it was something I had no idea how to deal with. Those are the best matches, where you have to figure out what the hell you’re supposed to be doing as you go along.”

She broke off for more water and gauge the crowd, smiling wryly.

“Some of you look sceptical,” she

said. “What’s wrong with what I’m doing if it works, right?” A couple of vaguely abashed murmurs. “Well, nothing. I did say that! You and your skarmory, you’re doing fine. But you could do better, right? You wouldn’t be listening to me if you didn’t believe that.”

“Yeah, okay, but I have a ninetales,” Connie muttered. “We already do status moves and stuff. What else are we gonna do?”

“So,” said Karen, demonstration.”

“let’s

have

a

Instant attention-grabber: everyone in the room who had any trainerly aspirations whatsoever sat up a little straighter, eyes fixed on her. Nobody here had ever done an Elite Four challenge, as far as Sam knew; if they had, they’d probably be pro by now, instead of studying here in Goldenrod.

And who didn’t want to say that they’d fought a match against Karen of the Indigo League?

Sam, actually. Karen’s whole thing might have been about how to find strategies that would help you win with weaker pokémon, but there were limits.

And even if there weren’t, Sam really, really didn’t want to go up there in front of everyone with Comet. She got enough flak from people just showing up to TrainerSoc meetings with him.

“Any volunteers?” asked Karen, scanning the forest of raised arms. “No, sorry, I think you’re probably all right,

THE UNDERGROUND

Mr Machamp over there.” Laughter.

“Not you, either – or you – okay, let’s make a rule: nobody with anything you look at and think yeah, that’s a strong pokémon.”

Some arms went down; most didn’t.

Karen looked some more, and sighed.

“You’re not great at self-selecting, are you?” she asked drily. “Come on, this is Goldenrod University. You’re meant to be the future of Johto, here.”

A few more hands were, reluctantly, lowered. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s take a different tack here. Who’s got the fewest recorded wins here?”

A mass turning of heads, and Sam felt her shoulders slump with her heart.

That was … a lot of people looking at her.

Darn it. Who even does that? Who asks a room full of highly competitive trainers to pick the weakest in the room? That’s just mean, frankly, and if the pressure of all those eyes hadn’t knocked the breath out of her Sam would have been tempted to curse Karen’s name.

dripping with badly-concealed jealousy. “Go on, then.”

Sam forced a smile. It seemed like the safest thing to do.

“O-okay,” she said, standing up, Comet dangling his feet in her arms.

“Uh, coming.”

Karen smiled back.

“Don’t be shy,” she said encouragingly. “If I’m doing it right, this should be fun.”

Right. Because that’s what training is, isn’t it. Fun. Up to the stage, then: a long, slow walk down the aisle. Sam wished she hadn’t sat so near the back. Walking past all these faces really drove home how much envy was currently being death-glared into her back as she passed.

Comet squeezed her arms in his own, sensing her discomfort; Sam squeezed gently back. At least someone was on her side. Or, well. Someone other than the person unwittingly subjecting her to this ordeal, anyway.

“That’d probably be Sam,” she heard the Society secretary saying. “I think she’s here tonight.”

“Hi,” said Karen, as she climbed up onto the stage. “And this is your partner?”

“Looks like it,” said Karen, and oh god she was actually looking at her now, actual Karen of the actual Elite Four was actually looking at her.

“Yeah,” said Sam, doing her best not to look out at the auditorium. “Comet, say hi.”

Sam looked back. She didn’t move.

“Well?” hissed Connie, her voice

He buzzed free of her arms, waving his little fists and waggling his antennae. Karen smiled.

-011

“All right,” she said. “So you and Comet are going to have a match against me and Toadstone.” That smile still, like a crescent moon. “Take your place, please.”

This was actually happening, then.

Sam sighed and took a few paces back, encouraging Comet forwards into the space between her and Karen. Opposite, Toadstone took up her own position, slightly crouched and ready to spring.

“So here’s how this is going to work,” Karen said. “Sam, obviously you and Comet don’t have the strength to beat Toadstone in a straightforward slugging match. That doesn’t mean Comet isn’t the right pokémon for you here in this fight. What are his strengths?”

“Uh … he can fly,” suggested Sam. “And, um, I guess he has the type advantage.”

Someone in the audience smothered a laugh, and Sam felt herself going even redder. Karen ignored them, just held her gaze.

“That’s right,” she replied. “What else?”

What else indeed? Comet could punch – liked to punch, even; all ledian did – but wasn’t really all that good at it. He could do a light screen or a reflect.

“Reflect?” said Sam. “Light screen, that kind of thing. Other than that …”

It slipped out before she could hear it in her head. Other than that what, Sam? Other than that not much, other

than that he’s no good. The fact that she would even think that disgusted her, but the thing was that it was kind of hard to argue with. She loved Comet.

He was sweet and loyal and had an endearing habit of stealing flowers for her from public gardens. But he just wasn’t much of a battler.

“Okay,” said Karen, nodding. “He can fly, he’s got the type advantage, he can do a light screen and a reflect.

And he’s not a psychic-type, is he?

So his barriers ought to stand up to Toadstone’s attacks.” She looked out at the auditorium. “You see? A little thought, and we’ve already discovered three key advantages that Comet has over what should be, on paper, the superior opponent. What matters next is how we use them.”

She turned back to Sam. “All right,” ready?”

she

said.

“Are

you

“Honestly? Not really.”

More laughter. smiled too.

This

time

Karen

“That’s fair,” she says. “Let me rephrase that: shall we begin?”

Comet turned a little in midair to catch her response, an excited gleam in his multifaceted eyes. He wanted this, Sam could see it. Generally pokémon did. If they partnered with you, it was almost always because they wanted a good fight.

She sighed.

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“Okay,” she said. “Let’s do it.”

Karen nodded.

“Excellent. On the count of three.

Three …”

What to do? She couldn’t exactly throw this, not with everyone watching and not after Karen had gone to all this trouble. Annoyingly, she actually had to give it a go. But what the hell was she meant to do?

“Two …”

Probably just start defensively.

Umbreon weren’t the most manoeuvrable; they weren’t like jolteon, able to leap thirty feet across the room in a second and a half. That meant Toadstone would probably be relying on ranged attacks, and that in turn meant light screen was a good idea.

“One …”

Screw it, thought Sam. It was about as good as she was going to come up with.

“Go! Mind!”

A cryptic command, meant to conceal the move Karen was using from her opponent; at the sound of it, Toadstone raised her head and fixed her crimson gaze on Comet. He faltered— “Wall!” cried Sam. “And get higher!”

Comet rose with a buzz and a leisurely wave of his arms, all six of his claws describing circles at different angles around him; blue light flared

briefly between each one and then again a moment later, as the eerie light of some psychic force rebounded from the barrier. It held, then. Barely – Sam could see the cracks in the light – but it held.

“You’ve discovered Toadstone’s secret,” said Karen wryly. “She’s tough, but offensively she’s not that strong. But she is stronger than Comet.

If you play defensively, she’ll wear him down, Sam. Again!”

“Dive and reinforce!”

Comet dived, the patterns on his shell swirling, and Toadstone’s next psychic just clipped the edge of his barrier, most of the energy exploding harmlessly above his feet. She tried to cancel the attack, shaking her head to clear it of the telepathy field, and this was it, Sam realised, this was her opening and if she didn’t act now then— “C-strike!” snapped Sam: Comet sprang forwards with all four fists drawn back to slam into Toadstone’s head, raining blow after blow on her face in the best comet punch of his career— —to absolutely no effect. Toadstone stared at him for a moment, unblinking, and when he didn’t stop reached up and swatted him away with one paw.

Comet tumbled away through the air, chirping in dismay, but caught himself before he hit the floor and zipped up and out of range once again.

-013

They weren’t even trying not to laugh now. Sam swallowed and kept her eyes on the battle, unable to face the prospect of catching even a glimpse of their faces.

“Hold it a moment, Toadstone,” said Karen. “Sam, you’re still thinking about this in terms of a weak pokémon desperately trying to fight a strong pokémon. You’re being defensive, then going for your best moves when you think you have an opening. And that’s a mindset that’s limiting what you and Comet can achieve.” At the sound of his name, Comet clicked and tilted his head on one side, curious. “Think about this battle as a contest of equals. Comet’s abilities aren’t worse than Toadstone’s, just different.”

“But he’s a ledian,” said Sam. “I mean, I’m trying, but …”

“But nothing,” replied Karen sharply.

“Think, Sam. You just need a different tack.”

Her tone stung. Sam stood there for a moment, wishing fervently that some kind sniper would put her out of her misery from the other end of the auditorium, and then pulled herself together. Think, she said. So think, Sam: how can you win this? You can’t tank Toadstone’s attacks forever. You can’t hurt her with Comet’s attacks either. She supposed she could try a silver wind or something and hope for a boost, but honestly she wasn’t sure that even that would do much. The whole

deal with umbreon was their ability to take hits. Comet just didn’t have the power.

So: couldn’t defend, couldn’t attack.

What else was there?

Not a lot, honestly.

“Toadstone,” said Karen, into her thoughts. “Orb!”

cutting

The umbreon opened her mouth, gathering motes of darkness between her teeth, and a moment later spat a pulsing ball of shadows straight at Comet’s face; he dodged upwards easily, without even needing to be told, and the shadow ball sailed past Sam and into the wings. Not intended to hit, she thought, but definitely meant to wake her up.

“Again!” said Karen, and a second shadow ball tore free from Toadstone’s mouth— “Wall! To your right!”

Comet chirruped and zoomed left, tracing a circle in the air with his right arms and cloaking his flank in a shimmering light screen; the shadow ball hit it at an angle and bounced away into the floorboards, where it burst in a shower of woodchips.

Bounced. Okay, the light screen shattered, but it bounced. And so did the psychic, from earlier.

She couldn’t defend. She couldn’t attack. But Comet didn’t need to, did he?

His attacks were useless. Toadstone’s attacks, on the other hand …

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“I’ll pay for that,” said Karen, without even looking at the damage.

“Come on! Orb!” “Get in close!” snapped Sam, and Comet dived without question, straight at Toadstone’s face. She was too disciplined to flinch, kept charging the shadow ball, and fired— “Wall! Over your head!”

Comet traced another light screen at the same moment as the shadow ball passed by his hands; the screen popped into existence halfway through the ball and the two moves exploded in a sudden rush of sound and light. Sam had to look away, and a moment later looked back to see Toadstone opening her eyes while Comet buzzed up off the floor, shaking his head against the dizziness.

“Oh my god,” said Sam, before she could stop herself. “That actually worked?”

The crowd were silent now, completely focused on the battle unfolding before them. No more laughter, she thought grimly. She wondered how long that would last.

“Yes!” said Karen, eyes alight. “Now that’s how you amuse me. I wonder if you can keep that up? Orb!” Well, thought Sam, if she was going to keep doing it …

“Wall right between the eyes!”

Comet swooped at Toadstone once again, claws whirling; she spat, he

spun, and as the sphere of light popped into existence around Toadstone’s head the shadow ball tore free of her lips – and slammed straight back into her face. Toadstone staggered, shaking her head and growling.

Honestly, Sam felt that Karen kind of handed her that one, but even so.

She’d just scored a hit on Toadstone.

Toadstone! Signature pokémon of the Elite Four’s Karen Fletcher! Last week she and Comet got stomped by Connie and her ninetales, and now she was landing hits on one of the toughest pokémon in the League.

Comet adjusted his wings and turned to look at her, antennae rigid with shock. He looked about as surprised as she felt.

“Very good,” said Karen. “How about this? Toadstone! Mind.”

Comet moved in close again, ready to repeat the trick, but Sam called him back sharply: reflecting a psychic attack wouldn’t do anything, not against an umbreon. The crowd seemed distant now, watching from another universe beyond her tiny world of parry and riposte. She hadn’t really been in the zone like this for a long time, and now she was it all seemed to come so easily. Psychic attack? Get up, dodge if you can. Save energy for another light screen.

“Higher!” she called, and Comet soared up as another knot of psychic force crushed the air beneath him;

-015

Toadstone glared and fired two more in quick succession, but while ledian weren’t all that fast umbreon were even slower, and neither managed to connect.

“Now you’re playing defensively again,” said Karen. “Remember, I can outlast you.”

Right. So: she couldn’t deflect Toadstone’s ranged attacks any more.

But light screen wasn’t Comet’s only barrier move, was it?”

“Get down,” she ordered. “Close the distance!”

“Okay,” said Karen, as Comet closed once again. “This sounds interesting.”

Toadstone backed off a step, waiting for a command; Comet kept advancing, spreading his arms in a tiny insectoid threat display. Poke her, thought Sam. Get a reaction. Don’t let her turtle up.

“Scales!” she snapped, and Comet twirled, loosing a cloud of greenish dust from within his wing-cases; a quick buzz of his wings, and the cloud shot forth in a tinted wind— —that floated away in a puff of scales as a wave of black energy rose from Toadstone’s skin, countering the silver wind in an instant.

“All right,” said Karen. “Toadstone!

Snap!”

She lunged, jaws open, and Comet flinched— “Don’t move!” Sam yelled, hoping

that Comet trusted her enough to stay.

“Just block!”

He looked away, chittering with fear, but his hand traced the circle – and the reflect sprung open right between Toadstone’s closing jaws, forcing them apart with enough force to knock her clean off her feet, head flying back over her heels as she fell.

It was only for a second. A moment later, she was back on her feet, licking her ruffled fur and doing her best to pretend that all of this had been intentional. But Comet had just floored her. Comet, and Sam. They stared together, open-mouthed.

Only after a second or two did Sam realise that Karen was speaking again.

“So there you have it,” she said, addressing the crowd. “That’s my world-class umbreon, knocked down by an amateur ledian.” She turned to Sam with a smile. “I’m obviously not expecting that you win – Toadstone is vastly more experienced than Comet – but I think I’ve made my point. You’re always in with a shot. No matter who your partner is, and no matter who you’re up against.”

Sam smiled back, incredulous.

“Uh … yeah, I’ll, um, bear that in mind.”

“Wonderful. Thank you, Sam. Can we have a round of applause for Sam and Comet?”

Apparently they could. It wasn’t the

THE UNDERGROUND

most enthusiastic applause, but it was applause. Sam walked back to her seat in a daze, Comet nestled snugly in her arms, and sat down again with the clapping still ringing in her ears.

“Thanks, Sam,” said Karen again.

“Now you start to see what I’m talking about.

This artificial distinction between strong and weak pokémon – a distinction that, more often than not, just comes down to which one hits harder or which is most fashionable – doesn’t do anything except hold us back. If you really want to bring out your partner’s potential …”

“Hey,” hissed Connie. “You have to tell me something. Did she throw that?

Like, to prove her point?”

Good question. Would forcing a reflect down an umbreon’s throat like that really launch her backwards that hard? Or, if it would – would that be something a ledian is even capable of doing?

Sam looked down at Comet, curled in her lap and clutching her arms. He looked tired, in an honest kind of way.

The kind of way you might look if you’d just won a practice match against Karen of the Indigo League.

“Nah,” she whispered. “I actually don’t think she did.”

Connie said something in response, but Sam didn’t pay any attention.

She was thinking about next week’s TrainerSoc meeting. There was no

speaker booked: it would just be a straight battle meet, a few dozen students and their partners thrashing it out in the Old Sports Hall.

For the first time in months, she realised, she was looking forward to it.

-017

THE UNDERGROUND

POKÉMON MYSTERY DUNGEON:

Guiding Light by

Ambyssin

XxX What is the essence of one’s being?

What magic ingredient fills us with life?

And sets us apart from plants and bacteria?

There is no one single part.

Rather, living beings contain four essential elements.

Individually, they are important.

But together, they form the backbone of our existence.

‘What? No, no, no, no! Ugh, this can’t be right! Seriously, game? You’re giving me Bulbasaur? I wanted Riolu! I put in all the right answers to the stupid quiz. I’m sure of it!’

A Nintendo DS dropped onto the dented part of a rusty metal desk that had clearly seen better days.

‘Well, this is just great. Brilliant use of your free time, Shane.

Now, you get to start over from square one tomorrow.’

Shane shut off the DS and closed it up. He pressed a hand to his forehead and ran it through his greasy brown hair. His gaze fell to his computer screen. ‘What a worthless

-019

guide. It got me the wrong starter.’ He shook his head. ‘No, I’m sure the guide’s fine. I probably screwed it up... somehow.

Because that’s just my luck.’ Shane looked at his watch and let out a sigh. ‘And on that wonderful note, it’s time for work.’

He headed for the bedroom door, pausing to inspect himself in his mirror. He rubbed his hands on his head in a halfhearted attempt at smoothing out his bedhead. But he gave up after a few seconds, and proceeded out of the room. He made for the front door, pausing to look out a window. ‘Looks like I’m gonna need my raincoat,’ he thought, and grabbed it off the floor. He shook the dust and dirt off of it, and swung it on over his back.

Satisfied, he slid on a pair of worn, mud-caked work boots. He went out the front door and locked it behind him. He hiked his hood up and started walking out toward the dreary, rainy streets.

‘One of these days I’ve got to get off this evening shift. All the fun stuff happens while I’m getting hammered at work.’ He fumbled for his car keys and unlocked the door of his small car. ‘I’ll bet the RP thread’s going to get updated with a new event, and my characters will get left behind, as usual. Which means I’ll have to scramble and catch up with all the missed posts.’ He swung the driver’s side door open and climbed in.

‘Let’s just get this over with.’

THE UNDERGROUND

XxX The first element is the Mind.

A sum of our thoughts, knowledge, and memories.

The Mind is both our arbiter and our navigator.

Making decisions large and small.

And guiding us through the treacherous quest we call life.

Next is the Body.

Our physical form.

The Body grants us control, through movement and sensation.

It exerts force on the world around us.

Giving us strength to overcome any obstacle in our path.

‘Of course the rain would get worse just as my shift is ending,’ Shane thought. ‘What a total joke! But, that’s my luck for you.

The worst luck on the planet.’

He sat down in his car, turning on the ignition. A wall of heat buffeted his damp cheeks. He drove toward the exit of the empty parking garage, passing a row of stone pillars in the process. A sheet of rain poured down on the other side of the garage’s exit. Shane reached over and grabbed a pair of glasses from the passenger’s seat. He slipped them on and squinted into the night.

‘It’s still too blurry,’ he thought. Shane considered giving up and spending the night in the break room. His back knotted up in protest. He gently pushed the pedal and the car lurched forward. The moment it left the safety of the parking garage, rain pounded on its exterior.

‘Ugh. How annoying. Let’s turn on some music,’ Shane

-021

thought, switching on the car’s radio. But all that he heard was the pounding of water on metal . Shane’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. He leaned forward, hunching over the wheel. Shane slowly made a right and drove down the street. He saw a spot of red suspended in midair. A sure sign of the upcoming traffic light. He eased the car to a stop and quickly looked back and forth through the foggy intersection. No headlights came into view. So, Shane began to make a right turn onto the main road.

But then a blaring horn sounded. Shane had just enough time to glance to his left before an intense crushing force slammed him against the middle arm rest. Metal and plastic shards jabbed his rib cage, knocking the wind out of him. Shane’s seatbelt immediately locked up. His body lurched against it; the seatbelt protecting him from being launched across the inside of the car. At the same time, a set of airbags activated from the door and steering wheel, sandwiching Shane in his seat. The taste of iron filled up his mouth, and motor oil assaulted his nostrils.

Pain surged across his body. Shane could only let out a weak cough before his vision went completely white.

XxX The third element is the Spirit.

That mystical force lurking deep inside us all.

Spirit emerges in times of hope, reflection, triumph, and defeat.

Helping us to get the most out of a joyous occasion, Or navigate the troubled waters of stress and crisis.

THE UNDERGROUND

“Aggggggggggggggh! Somebody help me! It... feels like I’m… being ripped apart!”

Shane forced his eyes open. He quickly wished that he hadn’t. A purple vortex surrounded him. Bright lights flashed around him, overwhelming his senses and forcing him to shut his eyes. Shockwaves rippled through his body.

He could feel his skin crawling, like it wanted to rip itself right off of him and float away.

“P-Please… someone… anyone… HELP!” he shouted. “I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna die!”

A lion’s roar drowned out his cries. Shane fought through the pain to open his eyes. All he could see was a brilliant yellow fireball, surrounded by luminescent blue wings. They glowed with such intensity that they blunted out everything else in the vortex, and burned Shane’s eyes.

“Fooooooooool! Did you really think you could pull off this little stunt without me finding out about it?

Heeheeheehee. How ridiculous! I can feel my light seeping off of you. It wants to return to me!” The fireball appeared to shrink in size and a second roar sounded. This one had a sense of desperation to it. Shane saw two black bars grab hold of the fireball. “And as much as I want you gone, I need you for something far more important.” From the middle of the glowing blue wings, a pair of red eyes looked up from the fireball, staring directly at Shane.

“Is… is someone out there?” Shane shouted. “I’m hurt.

I need help! Whoever you are... do something!”

The red eyes flashed and the fireball suddenly started growing closer. Shane shut his eyes and tried to move his body. But he lost all feeling in his arms and legs.

-023

“You need help, huh? Then help you will get. Take it easy. No need to worry. I have just the thing for you, my human friend. Heeheeheehee... bwahahahahaha!”

Pressure hit Shane’s eyelids, and they were yanked open. An orange inferno raged in front of him. Solar flares tickled his feet. A tingle rushed up to his back. The fireball erupted into a wall of rainbow light. Shane screamed in agony as the light swallowed him up whole, limbs and clothes dissolving into swirls of black smoke.

XxX The final element is Balance.

Mind, Body, and Spirit cycle through constant patterns of giveand-take.

These three elements depend on one another.

If Balance between them falls apart, Our being suffers and our life is imperiled.

A Vulpix’s body seized up, feeling water brushing its snow-white fur. Its eyes opened, and immediately widened in panic at the sight of deep, dark blue surrounding it.

Vulpix flailed its limbs about desperately, but made no progress moving upward. Instead, it continued sinking further into the ocean, the light from the surface growing progressively dimmer. Vulpix’s soaked fur weighed it down, and it soon grew tired. It made the fatal mistake of opening its mouth. A stream of air bubbles rushed out and Vulpix took in a mouthful of water. Realizing its mistake, Vulpix thrashed about with renewed vigor, slamming its eyes and mouth shut for good measure.

THE UNDERGROUND

But Vulpix’s flailing quickly burned through its energy.

The last of its willpower faded. Vulpix’s muzzle slowly opened. Water flooded into its nostrils and mouth. Black spots popped up all around Vulpix’s vision until it saw nothing but darkness. A few stray air bubbles trickled out from its mouth. Its body went completely still.

Vulpix’s body suddenly curled into a white ball. An unseen force grabbed hold of Vulpix and sealed it inside a bright, fluorescent green bubble. The bubble shot up through the water and burst through the surface, hovering into the air. It remained suspended in midair for several seconds, streams of moonlight reflecting off it and striking the water. The bubble took off soaring across the night sky. It sped along the surface of the water until it came to an abrupt stop at the edge of a beach. Ripples raced around the bubble, eventually poking a small hole in its base. Vulpix slid out of the protective forcefield, dropping onto the beach with a soft thump.

The bubble burst, showering bright green light across Vulpix’s body. When the light faded, a small anklet sat around its left foreleg. Vulpix tensed and coughed up a mouthful of seawater. The coughing fit continued for a few minutes, until its body slowly relaxed. Vulpix’s chest gently rose and fell while the tide lapped up against its silky white tails.

XxX

-025

THE UNDERGROUND

EPISODE 1: A CHANCE ENCOUNTER Chapter 1: Stranger on the Shores

~Aeon Town~ ‘Today’s the day, Riolu. You’re gonna do it. You’re not gonna chicken out. You’ll march right up that hill, walk through the front door, and...’

Riolu paused in the midst of marching back and forth across the outskirts of a colorful town. ‘Oh, who am I kidding? I can’t do this!’ She grabbed hold of the rainbow scarf around her neck and pulled it over her head. ‘I’m just wasting my time. I may as well go back to Sylveon’s house.’ She looked out at the buildings dotted around the town’s square, taking in the myriad of assorted colors and designs. Eventually, her gaze came to rest on the small stone fountain in the center of town. She smiled at the sight of the stone Gorebyss spiraling out of the fountain, spitting water in all directions.

But the smile faded. She let out a sigh, and her gaze fell to the ground. Riolu wiggled her toes, expecting the gesture to suddenly bring forth an epiphany that would snap her out of her current indecisiveness. And when it didn’t, she kicked a small pebble and watched it

roll into town. In the process, her gaze came to rest on the largest building in Aeon Town. It sat atop a hill, at the end of a large dirt path that wound its way up from the town square. The domed roof sparkled under the sun’s rays, giving off a hypnotic glow of purple and gold. Riolu continued to stare, feeling her earlier concerns melt away.

‘C’mon, Riolu. It’s the guild! Your whole family’s had to take that first step at some point. And now it’s your turn,’ she thought, trying to mentally psych herself up.

‘You can do this! All you have to do is stop thinking, and start walking. Come on, now.

One foot in front of the other. March!’

Riolu stomped down the path into town. ‘I’ve got the scarf and everything.

Dad said it always gave him good luck.

I’ll bet it can do the same for me.’ As she walked, Riolu clasped the scarf and held it up to her face to look at its frayed edges. One end had a sun stitched into it, while the other end had a crescent moon. The fabric glistened with a rainbow hue. ‘It’s time for some of that good luck to pass ont–’ “WAAAAAAAAH!” Riolu failed to account for the scarf’s length. She stepped on part of it and found herself falling toward the ground.

Her face struck first, and her momentum sent her tumbling down the hill. She rolled into the town, nearly bowling

-027

over a frightened Furfrou couple. “Hey, watch where you’re going!” the male Furfrou shouted, shaking his head disapprovingly. “Seriously, the nerve of some Pokémon. Trying to learn Rollout in the middle of the street.”

“I don’t think Riolu can learn Rollout, dear,” his mate pointed out. “... hmph. Doesn’t make it any less rude.”

Riolu continued forward. She finally came to rest in a collapsed heap in the middle of town square. She tried to sit up, but her whole world was spinning.

‘Ooog, this was a mistake,’ Riolu mentally groaned. ‘I should just go home before I make an even bigger fool of myself.’

“Tessa! Yay, I made it in time!”

A cheerful voice jolted Tessa to attention. She scrambled to her feet, resisting the urge to throw up, and grabbed the scarf to stop it from dragging on the ground.

“Eevee?” Tessa gasped as the brown, fox-like Pokémon sprinted up to her.

“I... I thought I told you to stop calling me Tessa. It’s Riolu now.” Eevee slowed his pace and frowned at Tessa.

“Never mind. Did you run all the way here from Sunrise Village?”

Eevee trotted to a stop beside Tessa and dropped the bag in his mouth. “Yup, yup. Mommy said you were gonna try to join the guild again. I wanted to give you a good luck present.” He looked down guiltily. “But you had already

left.” He immediately perked back up.

“So, I ran over here as fast I could!”

“That’s so sweet of you. But I really don’t think I’m going to–” “Look, it’s an oran berry,” Eevee chirped, producing the fruit for Tessa to see. “I picked it out myself.” He beamed and wagged his tail.

‘Awwwwww! Now I can’t turn down something like that,’ Tessa thought. She leaned down and placed the berry in her satchel. “Thanks a ton, Eevee,” she said, tussling her friend’s mane. “But you better hurry home. I don’t want Sylveon to get worried.”

“Okay!” Eevee nodded. “Maybe if I run fast enough… I’ll finally learn Quick Attack!” He turned around and scampered up the hill without so much as a goodbye.

‘Man… if only I had Eevee’s enthusiasm.

Joining the guild would be a breeze,’ Tessa mentally sighed. She adjusted her satchel and started up the hill to the guild’s base. As she approached, her paced slowed and her gaze fell toward the ground.

‘Oh no… it’s happening again. I’m freezing up. Just like last time. And the fifty other times before that!’ she realized.

Tessa glanced up at the building. A shiver racked her body. She backed away, her feet moving without any orders from her brain. She was in the process of turning around when she bumped into something fuzzy.

THE UNDERGROUND

“Oof! Hey, walking.”

watch

where

you’re

Tessa’s aura feelers shot into the air.

“Oh my goodness. I’m so sorry, I–” She cut herself off. Rather than looking the Growlithe she had bumped into in the eye, she focused on the anklet around his foreleg. A silver badge was pinned to it. The sight of the overlapping sun and crescent moon made Tessa’s aura feelers start to throb. “You’re... you’re with the guild,” she whispered.

“Sure am! I’m Growlithe. Say, aren’t you Lucario’s daughter?” he responded. Tessa stiffened. Growlithe gave her a concerned look. “Lucario and Incineroar talked about you all the time! They called you something really strange. What was it, again? Oh, yeah. I remember! It’s Tess-uh, right? “ Hearing the name Incineroar made Tessa jump. She landed on the edge of her scarf and proceeded to hop backwards a couple of times, trying to keep herself from falling to the ground.

“Are you okay?” Growlithe asked.

“You seem kinda jumpy.” He paused for a moment, and then his tail started to wag. “Oh, wait, I think I know what’s wrong here. You’ve got first-time jitters because you’re coming to join the guild, right? I totally get it. When I joined, I was so nervous, I coughed up a fireball and burnt a hole in one of the rugs.

Boy, was I embarrassed.” He let out a hearty laugh. “By the way, I haven’t seen Lucario around the Observatory lately. Any idea where she went?”

“Uh… um…” Tessa fidgeted with her scarf and looked down. “I... I think there’s been some sort of mistake.”

Growlithe frowned. “Oh, really? But that’s Incineroar’s scarf, isn’t it?”

Tessa’s grip tightened on the scarf.

“That’s... uh...

“Well, he never said it was one of a kind, I guess. Maybe this is just a funny coincidence. In which case, my bad! It’s been fun talking, but I should really get going.” He moved ahead of Tessa, only to pause. “Wait.” He shook his head.

“How could I be so inconsiderate? The family you’re from shouldn’t matter.

You’re going to the Observatory, right?

Whatever you’re heading there for, it’ll be much easier if you show up with an apprentice like me.”

Tessa’s eyes went wide.

“N-No!” she blurted out. “I... uh... must’ve made a wrong turn somewhere.

Sorry!” She gave Growlith a small bow and sprinted down the hill. Tessa tucked her head in and tightly gripped her satchel.

‘I knew it… I couldn’t do it. Growlithe even offered to guide me in and I just froze up. I’m no better than a frightened Joltik!

Why do I have to be such a screw up?’ she thought, making for the outskirts of town. ‘He just had to bring up Mom and Dad, didn’t he? This was a disaster!’ She squeezed her eyes shut and quickened her pace, not bothering to look back as she left Aeon Town behind.

-029

THE UNDERGROUND

XxX ~Azure Cape~ Tessa continued running until the dirt road gave way to sandy bluffs. A mid-morning sea breeze bristled her fur, sending a shiver down her spine.

She jogged to a stop and let herself sink down to her knees. Dropping her bag into the sand, she threw her paws up onto her face and let out a groan. Tessa flopped onto her stomach, burying her face in the warm sand.

‘And just like that I’m back here... again,’ she thought. ‘How many times have I done this, now?’ She scooped up a handful of sand and gently poured it onto the back of her head. ‘Am I really that pathetic? Did I really rely on Mom and Dad that much?’ A sinking feeling filled up her gut. Tessa couldn’t stop a whimper from escaping her mouth. ‘If only Mom or Dad were here. None of this would be happening. I’d have joined the guild. And I’d actually have a group of friends. But... no. Instead I’m here... alone. Just like last week. And if I try again tomorrow, I’m just going to end up back here. But I bet I’ll try, anyway.’ She let out a bitter, muffled laugh. ‘Because I really am that pathetic. Guess I answered my own question.’

Tessa continued laying in the sand, letting her mind go completely blank.

Eventually, her boiling back bothered her enough that she forced herself back up to her feet and grabbed her satchel.

Tessa started walking up toward the shoreline, staring down at the impressions her feet made in the wet sand. ‘Why did I think today was going to be any different? Because I wore the scarf?’

She ran a paw through its silky fabric.

‘If anything, this thing made it worse!

Usually I can at least make it up to the top of the hill before I panic and start thinking about Mom and Dad. But I didn’t even get halfway up the hill today!’

Tessa gave a frustrated growl and kicked up a patch of sand. She watched it splash into the water, but the sight did little to make her feel any better.

Tessa stopped along the shoreline. She balled her paws up into fists and braced them against her thighs. Clenching her teeth, Tessa took in a sharp breath and forced her eyes shut. “... hyaaah!”

She swung her paws forward, digits springing open. Tessa stood frozen like a statue. After a minute passed, she lowered her arms, letting out a loud groan. Tessa continued this routine, until the heat wore her down. She wiped her brow with an arm. ‘And, surprise, surprise, no progress. At this rate, I won’t even learn Force Palm.’

Tessa scooped her satchel up and turned to leave the beach, when her nostrils twitched. She rubbed the bridge of her snout. ‘Ugggh... gross! What smells like wet fur?’ She turned around to inspect her back. ‘It’s not me. Someone out for a morning swim?’ She shrugged.

-031

‘Bah, what does it matter? If some idiot wants to get swept out to sea, it’s none of my business. I should really just go.’

A swathe of white caught the corner of her eye. Tessa pivoted to her left and spotted a rock jutting out from the ground. A ball of white sat at the base of the rock. ‘That’s way too big to be a salt deposit. But it’s just past the edge of the tide.

So, what’s the deal, here?’ Her curiosity aroused, Tessa crept toward the rock. It didn’t take her long to realize that she had stumbled on something far more important than a sea salt pile. ‘Wait a second... four legs. Six tails. Bright white fur? That’s a Vulpix!’

Tessa broke into a jog, hurriedly closing the distance between her and Vulpix. As she ran up to him, the stench of wet fur overwhelmed her. ‘Jeez. He really stinks.’ She waved her paw in front of her snout. ‘Does this mean he washed ashore?’Tessa looked out to the water.

‘Oh, gods. What if he’s hurt? What if... he’s dead?’ Tessa looked down and gave a relieved sigh when she saw Vulpix’s chest slowly rise. ‘Okay, at least he’s not dead. But I can’t just leave him out here like this. What if a wild Pokémon swoops in while he’s sleeping? Or what if the tide comes in too far and sweeps him back out to sea?’

That was all the convincing Tessa needed. She reached out and nudged Vulpix with a paw. “Um... wake up, please. You... uh... you really shouldn’t sleep here. I don’t think it’s safe.”

Vulpix stirred. Tessa withdrew her paw with a startled squeak. She fell off balance, and her rear hit the sand.

Slowly, Vulpix’s eyes fluttered open and he uncurled his body.

“Unnnnghhh. Who was using my head to play a bongo set?” Vulpix groaned.

Tessa’s ears twitched, displeased at the sound of Vulpix’s nasally voice. “What... happened?”

He looked around in confusion. “And what am I doing on the beach? It’s not summer. And I definitely can’t afford a vacation anywhere tropical.”

“Um, are you okay, mister?” Tessa stammered, getting back to her feet. “I found you sleeping out here, and–” Vulpix’s eyes widened. “Hey… you’re a Riolu,” he gasped. “And you just talked!” Vulpix’s ears perked up.

“Oh, wow.” He looked about. His tails wagged independently of one another.

“Okay, I think I get it. This must be a dream. But… it feels so real.” He brushed his head against the sand, feeling the coarse grains on his fur.

“And that can only mean... that this is a lucid dream.” He looked around the beach. “Wow.” He gave a whistle.

“Pretty impressive work here, brain.

Now don’t you dare wake me up.” He craned his neck toward the sky. “I want to experience my own adventure in a world of Pokémon. And I can’t do that if you bungle things up like you usually do.”

Tessa raised her brow. “Um, sir.

THE UNDERGROUND

You’re not dreaming. I think you might’ve hit your head,” Tessa muttered. “You sound like you’re rambling.”

“I suppose the first thing I should do is figure out what Pokémon I turned into,” Vulpix chirped, completely ignoring Tessa’s comment. “I guess I can rule out a Riolu. Which, honestly, is quite disappointing. And I expect better of my own mind.” He looked at Tessa, whose eyes widened. “But I suppose having one as a partner is just as good. Now I’ll just– OOF!” Vulpix started to stand up, but collapsed onto his belly. He picked his head up and again tried getting to his feet. But the sand gave out underneath his legs, and he again dropped to his stomach, limbs splayed out in all directions. “Okay. So... it looks like I’m a quadruped. And... I’ve got white fur,” he grunted. “That... doesn’t ring any bells. I’ll bet that means I’m super important!”

Tessa watched the scene unfold with a worried look on her face. ‘What is wrong with this guy?’ she wondered.

‘He’s totally delirious. And… did he just say I’m his partner?’ She bit her lower lip.

‘Please don’t tell me there’s some sort of crazy Pokémon code of honor that says if you rescue a Vulpix in need, they become your servant. I don’t think I can deal with that!’

“Hey, Riolu?” Vulpix called, waving a forepaw at her. “Mind lending me a

hand? Kind of having trouble standing, here.”

Tessa rubbed her shoulder and looked away. “Uh... I’m not really sure that’s such a good idea. What’s the problem, anyway?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I can’t figure out how to get my legs to work,” Vulpix said.

Tessa frowned. “Do you have any idea how stupid that sounds?”

To her surprise, Vulpix looked up toward the sky again. “Oh-ho. So my partner’s got a lip on her, huh? I approve, brain. But, uh, you think you could give me a little bit of control here?”

Tessa started to shuffle backwards.

‘I don’t like where this is going. I think it’s time I made my exit...’

“Finally!” Vulpix had gotten to his feet and let out a triumphant shout.

He stumbled forward, nearly losing all of his progress in the process. But he managed to make his way toward the water’s edge. Tessa crouched down, ready to break into a run if something went wrong.

“AHHHHHHHH!” Vulpix let out another shout. And all the nervous energy Tessa had built up made her jump and let out a frightened yip. “Eep! What’s wrong? What is it?” she asked, whirling around to face Vulpix.

“Seriously?” Vulpix glared down at

-033

the water. “I’m a Vulpix? This isn’t cool.

This is awful! I look like all frilly and girly,” he groaned, swinging his hips around and looking dejectedly at his tails. “And what’s with the white fur?

Am I albino or something? I know I’m a pretty pasty guy. But I can’t believe this. Even in my own lucid dream, I have the worst luck in the galaxy! Why couldn’t I just be an albino Growlithe instead?”

“Relax, girlie,” Vulpix scoffed.

“Everything’s okay. Y’see… I’m not actually a Vulpix. I’m a human!” He puffed his chest out proudly. “Name’s Shane. I’m dr–” He paused. “Uh, I mean, some sort of mysterious force must have dragged me into this world so I can save it from a terrifying evil!”

He slapped the water with a forepaw, only to jump back as some droplets struck his snout. Tessa took another step away from him, shaking her head.

‘This has to be some sort of trick. He’s probably acting crazy to get me to lower my guard.’ She instinctively clutched her satchel tighter. ‘Well, if this outlaw thinks he’s stealing my stuff, he has another thing coming!’

Shane laughed. “Oh, don’t be so modest, Riolu. Unless you’re modestnatured, of course, which will make you one heck of a Lucario when you evolve.

But we have no way of finding that out, ha ha. Look, I know the white fur’s probably strange, but that just means I’m special. If you stick with me, we can take the world by storm.”

But she couldn’t bring herself to turn away from Vulpix. ‘But... what if he isn’t faking? Can I really just turn my back on him like this? He seems... well, lost would be putting it nicely, I suppose.’ Tessa looked down. ‘Ugh, I know I’m gonna regret this.’

She jogged up toward the water’s edge.

“Um, excuse me. But, why are you shouting about being a Vulpix? Is… is that a problem?”

Vulpix chuckled and shook his head.

“Ah, Riolu, Riolu, Riolu.” He put a forepaw on Tessa’s shoulder.

“Please don’t touch me!” Tessa cried and shoved Vulpix’s paw off. She shrank back defensively.

Tessa’s jaw slackened. “A human?

But… you look like a perfectly normal Vulpix to me.”

Tessa crossed her arms. “Okay, I don’t know how badly you hit your head while you were swimming, but you’re clearly off your rocker. I’ve only ever known Vulpix to have white fur.

It’s strange to see one so far from the Invern Mountains, though. Was there some sort of avalanche that brought you all the way out here? That would explain why you seem so... loopy.”

Shane’s muzzle stiffened. “Wait…

Vulpix live in the mountains? Like snow-covered mountains?”

Tessa nodded her head. “Huh… well there was that one Ninetales in the Air Continent.

But I guess my brain’s taking some ‘creative liberties’ with this dream,”

THE UNDERGROUND

he muttered under his breath. Shane turned back to Tessa. “See? That’s gotta prove I’m human. How else could you explain why I wouldn’t know what a Vulpix looks like?”

Tessa fidgeted with her satchel.

“Well, I’ve heard of humans, I guess.

But, y’know, only in those stories about the times the world was in crisis.

And none of those ever centered on Horizon.”

“Horizon?” Shane parroted.

“That’s, um, the name of the continent we’re on,” Tessa replied.

‘How could he not know that?’

“Oh, cool name. Sounds appropriate,” Shane said. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk the lay of the land once we settle into… uh…” His voice trailed off and he looked around. “Say, what kind of groups does this Horizon place have, anyway? Rescue teams? Explorers?

Expedition Society?”

“We have an explorers’ guild, I guess,” Tessa answered.

“Perfect!” Shane jumped beside Tessa. “Then what are we standing around here flapping our lips for? Let’s get moving!”

“What?” Tessa stepped back. “Are you crazy? You can’t go waltzing into the guild just because you feel like it.

You... um... you need a reason to go there.”

“I have a very good reason. As do you,” Shane insisted, giving her a

confident smirk. “We’re gonna enter this guild together. Meaning, you and I are gonna form an exploration team!”

“Absolutely not!” Tessa shouted, shoving Shane back once again. “I… I just met you. And all you’ve done is... is yell loudly and... uh... say crazy things like you’re a human.”

“But I am a human,” Shane said.

“And that’s important around here.

Why wouldn’t you want to save the world with me?”

Tessa clutched her satchel. “The world is... just fine. It’s been that way since Dark Matter was destroyed, and it’ll stay that way. Now, please stop talking. I don’t like your tone. You can’t just force a Pokémon to do something they don’t want to do. Especially one going out of her way to help you out.”

“Well, maybe the world’s fine now but I guarantee it won’t be for long,” Shane declared. “C’mon, just come with me and…”

“Enough! I am not letting you steal my stuff!” Tessa shouted…

THWACK! … and beaned Shane over the head with her satchel. His legs quivered.

He rocked back and forth a few times before collapsing onto his side.

Tessa dropped her bag to the ground, her arms shaking uncontrollably. “Oh no… oh no, no, no, no, no, no.” She knelt down and started shaking Shane.

‘You’ve gotta be kidding me, here! This guy

-035

XxX ~Sunrise Village, Sylveon’s House~ Tessa trudged toward the lone, pink, circular home sitting a ways off from the circular array of buildings. She couldn’t lift her head up to see the windows and chimney designed to resemble Sylveon’s eyes and bow, respectively. But she was able to brace Shane against one of the house’s pillars styled after Sylveon’s feeler-like ribbons. She slowly twisted the door handle and threw the door open. Tessa threw Shane to the ground.

“Sylveon...

I’m home,” Tessa wheezed. “And I, uh, kind of need your help.” spooked me, and I reacted. I couldn’t have hit him that hard, could I?’ she wondered.

‘This is just great! I can’t leave him here like this. What if he wakes up and reports me to Officer Magnezone? I’ll get in trouble for sure!’

Tessa strained to heft Shane up.

Her legs trembled from trying to sling him over her shoulder. ‘Okay, he’s much heavier than he looks. I thought all this fur would make him light!’ She tried to take a step forward, but her legs buckled.

‘Ugh. Come on, Riolu. Dig deep. Just get him over to Sylveon’s and then he’ll be her problem.’

She slowly shuffled off toward the dirt road.

Across the room, Sylveon dropped the mixing bowl held in her ribbons and jogged over to the front door.

“My goodness!” she gasped. “What happened here?”

“It’s... a long story,” Tessa groaned.

She staggered over to a nearby chair and collapsed onto it. “I found him in Azure Cape. He looked and smelled like he’d been in the ocean. But he woke up and started saying all this weird stuff and, uh, then he passed out again. Do you think you could help him? I’m worried he’s hurt.”

Sylveon looked down at Shane.

“Well, I think I may have something that could help him out.” She gently

THE UNDERGROUND

scooped Shane up in her ribbons and carried him off toward one of the house’s bedrooms. Tessa let out a groan and settled back in the chair. She had eyes shut for a minute, when footsteps caught her attention and made her sit up in the chair.

“Hey Tessa, do you think the ocean is magic?”

Tessa looked over at Eevee, who had jumped up to put his forepaws on the chair. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, you said it spat out Vulpix.

And made him talk crazy,” Eevee said.

“Unless you were telling a big, fat lie.”

“No. I really did find him passed out on the beach,” Tessa sighed.

The door to her room opened and Sylveon stepped out. “Well, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with Vulpix. The poor thing was exhausted, that’s all,” she reported. “He must have riled himself up on the beach and fainted from fatigue.”

“Is Vulpix gonna be okay?” Tessa asked.

“With bedrest and some food, he should be up and about come tomorrow,” Sylveon answered. “Did you end up carrying him all the way here?” Tessa nodded. “Goodness,” Sylveon gasped, “You must be tired. Or maybe you were jumpy after going to the guild?”

Tessa looked down guiltily. “Uh… about that. Y’see, I–”

Sylveon frowned. “You didn’t go, did you?”

Eevee’s ears drooped. “Did… did I pick the wrong berry?”

“What? No, Eevee, of course not,” Tessa insisted. “I just...” She glanced up at Sylveon. “... couldn’t follow through. I started thinking about Mom and Dad again and…” Her voice trailed off. Tessa got to her feet and approached Sylveon. “You’re Mom’s friend. Did she drop by while I was out or send a postcard or a letter in the mail? Please, Sylveon, you have to know something.”

“I’m sorry, Tessa.” Sylveon nudged Tessa’s chin with a ribbon. “Nothing’s changed since last week. I’m still just as in the dark as you are. Besides, she and I haven’t really spoken since, well...” She fell silent and Tessa hung her head. “If anything, the guild is more likely to know where she is than I am.”

Tessa’s shoulders slumped. “I understand,” she sighed. “Um, is Vulpix awake now?”

“Yes. But don’t talk to him too long.

I want him to rest,” Sylveon replied.

Tessa opened the door and entered her room. There, she found Shane lying on her straw bed, looking out a window.

“H-Hi there,” she whispered. “Sorry about, y’know, back at the beach.”

“You mean for socking me in the head with that bag of yours?” Shane grumbled. “Not a great first impression,

-037

if I’m honest.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Tessa blurted out. “I thought... I panicked for a moment and thought you were an outlaw who wanted to steal my stuff.”

“But I told you I’m a human,” Shane stated.

“That… is just very hard to believe,” Tessa said. “And I’ve heard that outlaws know some crafty tricks.”

“Wait.” Shane’s body stiffened, “I lost consciousness after you hit me.”

“How many times do I have to apologize for th–?”

“Quiet a sec,” Shane said, drawing an annoyed look from Tessa. “If… if this was a dream, it should’ve ended when you knocked me out. But I’m still here. And I’m still a weird, whitefurred Vulpix.”

“All Vulpixes have white fur here,” Tessa reminded him.

Shane’s eyes sparkled and his tails thumped excitedly. “Don’t you realize what this means? I’m really in the world of Pokémon!” He jumped to his feet. “I’m gonna be a hero!”

His legs suddenly shook and he flopped back on his belly. “Careful, careful,” Tessa scolded, running up to Shane’s side. “You’re suffering from fatigue. You need to rest.”

“I can tell,” Shane groaned.

“Here.” Tessa produced Eevee’s oran

berry from her satchel. “Eat this to keep your strength up.”

Shane sniffed the berry and gobbled it up. ‘Wow! Normally, I can’t stand fruits and veggies. But this thing’s so sweet,’ he thought. “Thank you,” he said to Tessa, “that really hit the spot.”

Tessa sat on the floor next to the bed.

“So, you’re really a human, then?”

“Yup!” Shane proclaimed. “But, it’s strange.” His brow furrowed. “In the games… humans always lost their memories when they came to the Pokémon world. But I still remember everything perfectly. Apart from how I got here, I suppose.”

“Games?” Tessa parroted.

“Ah, right,” Shane chuckled. “They never had to have a conversation like this in the games, I suppose.” He pivoted on the bed to face Tessa. “See, in my world, Pokémon are fictional characters.” Tessa gave him a blank look. “Y’know, made up? Don’t really exist?”

Tessa frowned. “Okay, I’m starting to doubt your story again.”

“I’m serious,” Shane said. “Before I woke up here, I was a male human.

I had a family with two little sisters who bugged the heck out of me. I lived with them until I moved out. Then, I stayed on my own in this shabby little house in the projects of a human city and worked a job in a human hospital.

I went to bed one night and, next thing

THE UNDERGROUND

I know, I wake up to see you talking to me.”

“Well, if you just got here, what’s with the jewelry?” Tessa asked, pointing to Shane’s foreleg.

“Huh?” Shane looked down at the anklet clinging to his thigh. “I’ve never seen this thing before.” He pressed his other forepaw against it, only to find that the anklet wouldn’t move.

“Urrrnnngggh… I think it’s stuck. You got any grease or butter here?”

Tessa tilted her head in confusion.

“Why would that help? That stuff’s supposed to be for cooking.”

“Never mind,” Shane sighed. He sank back down in the bed. “So, does this mean we’re going to go the guild tomorrow?”

Tessa’s fur stood on end. “Ugh, this again?” she growled. “Why me? I already told you I don’t fully trust you.”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m a human. If I’m here, then this world is in trouble,” Shane insisted. “And the only way we’re gonna find out is by joining with the guild so we can explore and, well, stumble onto whatever problem the world’s about to face.”

“That’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?” Tessa countered.

“Didn’t you tell me you’d heard stories of humans before?” Shane asked. “Well, what were they about?

They couldn’t have been mundane, otherwise your parents wouldn’t

bother telling you them.” He didn’t notice the look of horror that flashed across Tessa’s face when he said the word “parents.”

Tessa tried to compose herself to give an answer. “Well…” She rubbed her shoulder. “My, um, parents did say that some bad stuff has happened in their lifetimes. And that humans supposedly played a role in making that stuff go away. But it all sounded really crazy! I mean, come on. A human coming from the future to prevent time itself from collapsing? Another human teaming up with the spirit of Mew to fight an amalgamation of the world’s negativity called Dark Matter? All the adults I know say that stuff happened... and that’s fine. Doesn’t change the fact that nothing’s gone wrong since I hatched out of my egg.”

Shane’s snout stiffened. ‘Wait. Those sound just like the games!’ he realized.

“I think I know what you’re talking about.”

“Are you serious? The only way you’d know what I’m talking about is if you were from this world. But you’re claiming you’re from the human world.

So, which is it, huh?” Tessa scoffed.

Shane let out a nervous laugh. “I’m from the human world. Cross my heart, hope to die. I was there... and now I’m here. And with this anklet that I have no idea how I got, no less. I know you may think those stories sound strange, but considering my situation, I don’t

-039

have a problem believing they’re real.”

He tapped a forepaw against his chin.

“And, think of it this way, why would Pokémon make stories up about humans if they’re not real?”

“For fun, I’ll bet,” Tessa replied.

“Seems like something awfully strange to just make up out of nowhere,” Shane countered. “Can you even describe what a human looks like?”

Tessa fidgeted. “Nnnggh… not really.

Everyone knows that the humans that show up... they’re always…” She looked up at Shane. “… turned into Pokémon... like you’re claiming to be.”

“Exactly!” Shane proclaimed.

“I… I’m sorry.” Tessa clutched her head and shook it. “This is just so much to take in.” “… ha! That’s how I should be feeling, not you,” Shane laughed.

Tessa frowned. “You’re not helping.”

Shane rolled his eyes. “Okay. How about we view it from another angle, then? The guild’s my best shot at figuring out how to return to the human world,” he said. “But, if I just go by myself, they’ll never believe I’m a human.”

‘Certainly not with that attitude of yours,’ Tessa mentally scoffed. “And what do you want me to do about that?”

“Take me there. We’ll form an exploration team and find a way for me to go home.” Shane rolled onto his back

and stretched out his limbs. “And if it just so happens we discover a terrifying evil plot and foil it, then that’ll just be an added benefit.”

Tessa bit her lower lip. ‘Is he serious?

Does he really think we could be like Team Poképals... or Team Gaia? That’s crazy!

Besides, I can’t even walk up to the guild’s front door. I’d just end up holding this guy back.’ She fidgeted with her scarf. “I… I’m sorry. I don’t want to do something like that,” she muttered.

“Are you serious?” Shane looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You could be a hero! You’d be just like the Pokémon in your stories. Imagine… Riolu, the legendary explorer.”

Tessa pulled her scarf over her eyes.

‘He seems really confident about this.

Maybe I’m not giving him enough credit?

Maybe... maybe he’s exactly what I need to get out of this rut? I mean... he seems to like me. That’s more than I can say for any of the other Pokémon my age here... aside from Eevee. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

Maybe...’ Tessa’s thoughts trailed off and her body tensed up. Images flashed through her mind.

A lithe Lucario standing in a doorway, looking back in her direction. “Go stay with Sylveon until I return. I promise... I won’t be long.”

A streak of white flashing across her vision. The tip of a black scythe hovering in front of her.

“No… I can’t…” Tessa stumbled to

THE UNDERGROUND

her feet. “I can’t take you to the guild.

Not now. Not ever.”

Tessa scrambled for the door. “Hey, wait, where are you going?” Shane called.

“Somewhere else! We’ve already spoken too long. You need to rest.”

The door slammed shut before Shane could further protest.

‘Okay.’ Shane rolled onto his stomach.

‘Well, that was a bust. She must not be my partner, then.’ He yawned and stretched out across Tessa’s bed. “As soon as I’m rested up, I’ll hit the road and look for the right Pokémon. Maybe there’s another, cheerier Riolu wandering around, and she’s just a red herring.”

XxX Tessa’s eyes opened. She looked around the room, trying to make out the furniture in the dark. She put a paw up to her face, and clasped one of her aura feelers. It trembled in her grip. Tessa’s heart started pounding.

She sat up and stared at the front door.

‘Is… someone outside?’ Tessa slid to her feet and tiptoed toward the front door.

The closer she got, the more she felt her aura feelers throb. ‘Oh, why can’t you guys just work like you’re supposed to?’ she lamented. ‘I wouldn’t have to go outside if I could actually read auras like I’m supposed to.’

She slowly opened up the door and

a creaking noise echoed through the room. Tessa flinched and quickly slipped outside. The moment she shut the door, her aura feelers stood up on end. Her ears twitched and she pivoted to her right. She could see a shadowy blur off in the distance, but it was too dark for her to make out what she was looking at.

“I think the test was a bust, Umbry.

This definitely isn’t the Mist Continent.

Heck, I don’t think I’ve ever been here before.”

Tessa heard the bushes rustling and pressed herself up against one of the house’s pillars. She held her breath and gently poked her head out to confirm the blurry figure was still standing there. ‘What do I do? Should I go inside and tell Sylveon? Or wait to see if they leave?’

Before she could give her situation any further thought, a male voice said, “You’re right, Espy. Looks like our Ultra Entercard screwed up... again.

And this was the worst miss we’ve had so far! It’s gonna take days of tweaking to deal with this.”

“Well, what are we supposed to do in the meantime?” the first voice – Espy, if Tessa had to guess – asked. “Do you really want to risk using another Ultra Entercard? What if it drops us into a volcano, huh?”

“I’d rather take my chances if it means actually getting to go home and avoid sleeping in some bushes by a hick town and a forest dungeon,”

-041

Umbry growled. “We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile, remember? That goes completely out the window if we stay here. Everyone in the village will wake up and see us.”

“I’m not an idiot, Umbry,” Espy scoffed. “Besides, it’s too late to go unnoticed. We’re not alone.”

Tessa’s heart leaped into her throat.

‘No... that’s impossible! She couldn’t have seen me... I’ve been hidden the entire time.’She got onto her paws and knees and tried to crawl back toward the front door. But she looked over in the direction she’d been staring and found a pair of bright blue eyes looking right at her. A red crescent moon twinkled underneath Espy’s eyes. She darted forward without so much as a word.

Tessa scrambled to her feet, trying to throw the door to the house open. But Espy managed to close the distance between them astonishingly fast. Tessa tried to shout for help, but a pink forepaw covered up her snout. Next think she knew, she was pinned on her back. Tessa looked up at her assailant, eyes freezing on the black crystals covering Espy’s chest and shoulders.

“Ssssshhhhhh,” Espy whispered, pressing her forepaw harder against Tessa’s snout. Her forked tail snapped to her side, revealing black, metallic spokes where the tips of her tail should’ve been. “Well, aren’t you a curious little eavesdropper. It looks like this accidental trip won’t be a complete

bust after all. Umbry and I can always use a new... playmate.” She leaned forward, showing off the star-shaped diamond embedded in her forehead.

Tiny metal veins fanned out from the diamond, digging into Espy’s scalp.

The sight made Tessa’s skin crawl.

Espy’s diamond startled to crackle with red and black energy.

Tessa tried to struggle out from Espy’s grip, but she was too strong.

‘No... this can’t be happening! I’m too young to die!’Her entire world went bright red. But, to her complete surprise, she didn’t feel anything. The red light faded as quickly as it appeared, leaving her staring at Espy’s shocked expression.

“That’s impossible,” she whispered.

“You shouldn’t be lying there like that.

I just infected you. The fur should be burning off your body. There should be Pheromosa parts tearing through your flesh! What’s going on here?”

“Espy, what is wrong with you? What part of keeping a low profile didn’t you understand? Get over here... now!”

Umbry ordered. Tessa could just make out another figure out of the corner of her eyes. But all she could see was a pair of fierce red eyes, accentuated by glowing red rings on what she guessed were Umbry’s tail, legs, and ears.

“Just a second, Umbry. Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something important here?” Espy hissed.

The red crescent moon on Umbry’s forehead flashed, causing Espy to tense

THE UNDERGROUND

up. “I don’t care. We’re not here to infect anyone. You’ve already screwed things up for us big time. Let’s get going before you manage to give me an even bigger headache.”

“But Umbry, don’t you see? She withstood infection,” Espy exclaimed, again pressing town on Tessa’s face.

She teared up at this. “We have to take her with us. She’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. She’s the perfect new playmate for us.” Umbry stomped over to their location and bit down on one of Espy’s pink, triangular ears. “Ow...

OWW!” she shouted, releasing her grip on Tessa, who remained lying on the ground, frozen in fear. “What are you doing, you moron? We need to take her with us.”

“No we don’t. I told you to stay with me, but you just wouldn’t listen,” Umbry snarled. He released his grip on Espy, who stumbled next to him.

“Wipe her memories of us so we can leave. And this time, no infections, no talking about finding new playmates, and, most importantly, no jumping strangers!” Espy rolled her eyes. She pointed them at Tessa and they flashed pink. Tessa’s body stiffened, and then immediately relaxed.

“There, happy?” Espy huffed. Umbry lowered his head and shoved her toward the nearby forest. Espy gave a squeak of protest, but Umbry shoved her forward again. This continued until they had both disappeared into the trees.

Tessa slowly sat up, getting over her stupor. She blinked a few times. Her mind raced for some reason, but she could tell why. ‘What the–? When did I get out here?’ She opened her mouth, expecting to say something. But instead, Tessa’s world went completely black. She was unconscious seconds before she fell back into the dirt, snout pointed up toward the starry sky.

XxX Tessa had no idea how long she was out for. Only that it was still nighttime when she reawakened. After blinking a few times to get the fuzziness out of her vision, a throbbing pain emerged in her head. ‘Nnnnngh. What happened to me? I remember going to sleep, but now I’m outside,’ she thought. As she got to her feet, she sensed that something was wrong. A chill ran across her neck. She brought her paws up to her neck and started feeling around. Panic overtook her as her paws brushed against fur.

Tessa looked down at the ground.

‘Where’s my scarf?’ she wondered. ‘No! This can’t be happening! Where did it go?

Where did it go?’ She whirled around and continued scanning the ground. ‘I still had it on my neck when I went to sleep.

Don’t tell me... don’t tell me someone dragged me out here and stole it!’ She looked back to the house. ‘Wait... what if it was that Vulpix? What if I was right? He could’ve–’

-043

“Kweh heh heh! What a stroke of luck, eh, Jangmo-o? And here we was thinking we’d be going home emptyhanded.”

Tessa looked to her left. There, she spotted a pair of Pokémon walking along the dirt road. She could see a set of gleaming white claws holding up a rainbow scarf. It glistened under the moonlight. Tessa bawled her paws up into fists and charged toward her scarf.

“HEY! Stop... thieves! Gimme back my scarf!” she shouted. The two Pokémon turned around in surprise.

“Suh... Sneasel, what are we gonna do? She wasn’t supposed to wake up and see us!” Jangmo-o gasped. “How are we supposed to make our brilliant getaway now? She’s gonna try and stop us!”

Sneasel slapped his accomplice upside the head. “Jangmo-o, you ditz!

You ain’t supposed to tell the broad we’re escaping. That’ll ruin the whole point of, well, escaping!”

Jangmo-o rubbed the back of his head. “S-Sorry, boss.”

Tessa barked angrily and lunged at the thieves. They both jumped out of the way. Sneasel yanked Tessa’s scarf back just in time to avoid her reach.

He slung it over his arm. “Nice going there, Jangmo-o. Your big mouth just cost us, like, a big head start!” Sneasel scoffed.

“But ain’t you just wasting more time

by yelling at me?” Jangmo-o pointed out.

Sneasel’s eyes widened. “You’re right. What are we standing around for? Time to deploy our super speedy getaway special. Ready? GO!” Tessa jumped back to her feet and tried to swipe at her attackers. But Jangmo-o and Sneasel had already broken into a run. Sneasel turned to look back at Tessa. “Kweh heh heh! Nice try girlie, but ain’t no Pokémon around here can outrun us!” he shouted. “We’ll take great care of your scarf, though!”

“Heh... yeah! Thanks for the present, toots,” Jangmo-o cackled.

‘No... not my scarf...’ Tessa whimpered.

‘Not Dad’s scarf. That was all I had left of him. And now it’s gone!’ She dropped to her knees. ‘This is all Vulpix’s fault. If I didn’t run into him, I’d be sleeping in my bed and nothing bad would’ve happened!’She smacked the ground with her paw. ‘I should’ve refused to help him. But I didn’t.

Because I’m an idiot! A weak... pathetic idiot who can’t even stand up for herself!’

Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Hey... what are you just laying around for? Aren’t you gonna go after them?”

Tessa turned around and spotted Shane jogging over to her. She quickly rubbed her eyes dry with her paw.

“Vulpix? What are you doing out here?”

Tessa hiccupped.

“You’re supposed to be resting.”

THE UNDERGROUND

“I heard you shouting. And I already told you, it’s Shane,” he replied.

“Wait... were you crying? Because of those two jerks? Come on! They didn’t look so tough. I bet we can take them!”

Shane helped Tessa to her feet.

“Right.” She nodded, wiping snot from her nose. “I… I can’t let them take my scarf. It... it means a lot to me. We have to go after them.”

Tessa went slack-jawed. “Whwhat? Are you crazy? We can’t just go after them. It’s... it’s the middle of the night!”

“That’s the spirit!” Shane chirped.

“Just tell me which way we need to go.”

“So? If that scarf’s really so important that it’d make you start crying, then we have to get it back. Now, are you just going to sit there or are we going to give chase?”

Tessa blinked tears from her eyes.

“We?” “Of course.” Shane extended a forepaw. “At the very least, I owe you for letting me crash in your room.”

Tessa’s eyes dart around as she tired to process Shane’s offer. Wasn’t she just cursing him out a moment ago? Should she really trust him? “But there’s no way we’ll catch them. They both blend into the night so well,” she whimpered. “We should just wake up Sylveon and call up Officer Magnezone.

He’ll know what to do.”

“Yeah, right,” Shane scoffed. “If we do that, I guarantee you that your scarf’s as good as gone.” He started to walk ahead of her. “Losing that scarf clearly shook you up, so it’s gotta be important to you. Are you going to lie there and tell me you’re gonna let it go without a fight?”

“They were heading in the direction of Azure Cape… I think,” Tessa said.

They both started running toward the outskirts of the village. “Maybe if we hurry we can catch them while they’re still there?”

“Only one way to find out,” Shane declared, increasing his speed.

-045

THE UNDERGROUND

by

Phalanx

IONIZATION

-047

The waiting room is cold. Granted, it is 8 AM on a Sinnoh morning, but I feel like the least the Sandgem Laboratory could do is turn the heat up a little. However, no one else seems to mind, so I choose not to say anything. Guess I should’ve expected as much, Sinnoh is a cooler region than Unova, but jeez, even in the buildings? I try to wrap myself further into my hoodie, clawing desperately at any scrap of warmth it brings me.

Thankfully, it was made for skiing, so it’s warm enough. Doesn’t stop me from shivering a bit, though.

I feel a tap on my leg. My friend, Yossele, is looking at me. He taps my leg again, with two fingers this time, letting me know he wants to talk. His thick, light blue mud-brick arms move surprisingly quickly for such a heavy creature. {How are you doing?} he signs. {You look like you’re getting sick.} “Nah, I’m fine,” I response with a sigh. “It’s just been a really long day.” I take another look around the room. There are some other people in the room, most likely waiting for the Professor.

This is the office of Professor Rowan, after all.

Most of the others are far younger than I am, probably not even more than ten, eleven years old.

Never made much sense to me why most regions let them go on journeys this early. Fourteen is more than early enough.

Although, even I know that me starting a journey at eighteen is more than a little weird.

Guess that explains the odd looks.

“Kinda crazy how many kids are up this early,” I mutter. “How much longer is it until my appointment with the Professor?”

Yossele looks at the clock by the door and holds up one finger. {Not enough time for a nap,} he continues.

THE UNDERGROUND

“Gonna try anyway,” I retort.

However, I don’t even have the time to cover my eyes with my hoodie before a young woman enters the room. The top of her head is covered by a pink-and-white beanie, while her straight, dark-blue hair falls to about midway down her back. I’d half expected her to wear a lab coat, or something sciency, but she is instead adorned in a fashionable red coat with a short skirt, white scarf, and large pink boats. It looks like she’s trying to be more cute than professional, at least to me.

“Is Mathilda Kasdan here?” she asks. I jerk up in my chair and give her what I hope is a cheerful nod. However, the woman just gives a chuckle, while Yossele lets out a low rumble that I’ve long equated with laughter.

Real funny, you guys.

“The Professor will see you now,” the woman giggled. “I’ll guide you to his office.”

“Cool, thanks,” I say as I sluggishly get out of the chair, not trying to hide my exhaustion anymore for fear of embarrassing myself more.

In front of 10-year-olds, no less! “Mind if Yossele walks with me, or do I need to return him to his Pokéball?”

The receptionist looks at me with a surprised look. “Oh, it’s yours?” she asks. I nod in the affirmative. “Well that’s super convenient,” she continues. “Now we don’t have to worry about a starter pokémon, and we can just skip to the important stuff!” She pumps her fist in excitement. How are people so energetic right now?! “I think you should be fine keeping the golett out of its ball, the Prof won’t mind.”

“Yay, convenience,” I deadpan. Yossele also gives his approval with a thumbs-up.

I just hope the important stuff isn’t too excruciating.

----------------------------It doesn’t take long for the three of us to reach the main office, but when we enter the room, I feel like office is the wrong word for it. It’s actually a rather large room, with some machines and science equipment scattered throughout.

What strikes me, though, is that more than most labs I’ve seen, this one has a bunch of bookcases and desks lining the back, reminding me more of a library than a chemist’s playground. Sitting at one of the desks, an older man wearing a brown trench coat and sporting a large grey moustache looks up from the book he’s reading.

“Ah, is it that time already?” he ponders to himself, carefully placing a bookmark in his text. “Thank you, Dawn, I believe I’ll take things from here.” He gets up out of his desk chair and briskly walks over to me, arm extended. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Kasdan.”

“Just Mattie, thanks,” I say as I shake his hand. He has an incredibly firm grip, so much so that it almost hurts to hold on. “I take it you’re Professor Rowan?”

“In the flesh, my dear.”

“Funny, I’d always thought you’d be grumpier.

You’ve got that reputation back in Icirrus.”

The old man lets out a hearty guffaw. “Oh, they must have seen that old video. That was from years ago, before the Galactic Incident and my dealings with our current Champion.” He sighs deeply. “I’d just about lost passion for my work around then, but it was my interactions with

-049

Lucas, alongside the astounding new discoveries made by my good friend Sycamore in Kalos, that reinvigorated me. I’ve been a new man ever since.”

“Oh, you mean the Mega Evolution stuff?”

Dawn interjects. “Yeah, that was really interesting.”

“Yes, but we’re getting off track.” He motions toward the desk he was sitting at, and nods at Dawn, who grabs a chair for me to sit on. “You want to begin a Pokémon Journey, and I am in no mood to interfere with such a wish. However, there are some logistics that we need to go over, so I would like to get through that as soon as humanly possible. Please, do make yourself comfortable.”

I’m a little worried when he mentions the word “logistics,” but I don’t see any sort of worry or anger on the Professor’s face, so I assume I’m fine. I sit down in the chair, which is much more comfortable than I thought it would be. Professor Rowan takes out a few sheets of paper, which I assume is my résumé and record, puts on some tiny reading glasses, and starts to peruse my files.

“Let’s see here, your name is Mathilda Kasdan, yes we know that already. You mentioned you were from Icirrus City. Is there any particular reason you decided on conducting your journey here instead of your home region?”

“Eh, no particular reason,” I say with a shrug.

“After all the upheaval that had gone on the past few years, I kinda just wanted to get away from that, you know?”

“Quite understandable, although to be quite frank, Sinnoh has had its fair share of nastiness in the last five years as well. Also, is there any particular reason you picked Sinnoh over the

other regions? Kalos and Alola, in particular, are quite beautiful, so why pick such a cold and desolate place?”

I can’t help but laugh at his jesting. He’s so different than what I thought he’d be like. It’s such a relief.

I feel like it won’t last long, though.

“Now, for the business of your Starter, normally I would ask you about acquiring one from the League, but considering your friend, here, I would guess that you are not in need of one?”

“Yeah, that’d be the case.”

“Now, how did a novice such as yourself acquire such an interesting first pokémon, if I may be so bold?” he inquires.

Oh, Arceus, here we go.

“He’s, uh, been part of my family for a while.

His name’s Yossele, by the way.” The golett waves his hand, almost on cue. It’s a small relief when Rowan smiles at the pokémon. Yossele, however, is not finished. {I mostly help out around the house,} he signs. {Every once in a while, I take part in some friendly battles with Mattie’s mother and her pokémon, but for the most part-} “Oh goodness, goodness, slow down!”

Professor Rowan interjects. Turning back to me, he continues, rather astonished. “It’s true that golett are rather intelligent, but I had no idea they could learn to sign!”

“Yeah, it’s pretty impressive,” I respond. “My dad’s mostly deaf, so I sign too, and he picked it up pretty quickly. He’s been a huge help. By the way, did you catch any of that? I don’t know if you sign or not.”

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“Unfortunately, I do not,” he admits sheepishly, “but I would surmise that he’s a helper of sorts.

Is that fair enough?”

“Yeah pretty much.”

Nodding, Professor Rowan turns back to his notes. He flips to the next page, and out of the corner of my eye, I catch a stamp mark in bold red letters. I recognize this one. It’s my permanent record.

Shit.

“Before you say anything, Professor,” I begin, “let me just say that-” “Now, now, don’t fret about this too much,” the older man interrupts. “I take it you are worried about the particulars on this page, but I can assure you that I’ve seen this before, and nothing on your record would indict you of anything that would signify the cancellation of your League journey.”

I want to sigh with relief, but I can’t. I know what’s there. I hate what’s there. And from what he’s saying, the League already knows what’s there. I can’t feel good about that, no matter how hard I try.

“Normally, I would not speak with newer Trainers about their records, as once the League approves a newer Trainer, there’s no need. And don’t worry, the League has already approved you as well. You are not in trouble.” He strokes his mustache, looking like he’s thinking hard about something. “However, due to your…rather interesting background, I wanted to talk with you about it personally.”

“Alright,” I say, hesitation making my voice waver. “What did you want to ask me?”

“Well, quite frankly, when I was given your

record, I was a little shocked at what I saw. You have a decent home life with respectable parents, your grades in school are good, and you seem like a generally well-put-together person. So, I was caught off guard, that’s all.”

I let out a long sigh. “I know where this is going, Professor. You don’t need to sugarcoat it.”

“Well then, I will be blunt, Ms. Kasdan.”

I brace for it.

“Why would someone like you join the Team Plasma cult?”

The revelation elicits a stunned gasp from Dawn. Clearly she hadn’t known that information before, considering how much it’s blindsided her. It shocks most people, learning that goodol’ Mattie Kasdan was a Team Plasma Grunt. I don’t respond immediately, slowly fiddling with the tips of my bangs, still dyed orange from when I was inducted – no, wait, indoctrinated, more like – into the ranks of the team. I’ve been too lazy to cut it all the way yet, and the tips serve as a constant reminder of my shameful choice.

“I didn’t know what it would become,” I slowly mutter. “I mean, no one did. When I joined, it was just an anti-pokémon abuse group.

I was in a rebellious phase, and I’d seen people be nasty to pokémon before, and it just felt like a good way to get the word out at the time. I didn’t…” I hesitate, my voice catching in my throat. “I didn’t know it would end like that.”

“And how could you?” Rowan continues.

“According to my research, you joined it a good four months before the Accumula rally even happened. The ‘liberation’ front hadn’t even been revealed yet, correct?”

“Mhm,” I nod.

-051

“Did you ever participate in the rallies?”

“No, I just helped organize. I wasn’t a ‘bootson-the-ground’ Grunt, I was still going to school.

But I wanted to help, so I helped spread the word, get papers in order, that kind of thing.”

“So you’ve never stolen someone else’s pokémon?” Dawn asks.

I look down at the floor. “That’s…I mean, no, I never stole a pokémon for Plasma.”

While Dawn breathes a sigh of relief and Rowan gives a contented nod, I turn to Yossele, who shakes his head. The message is clear.

Nothing more needs to be said.

“Also,” Rowan continues, “I noticed that you have a registration in the Icirrus Police database.

However, you do not have any arrests on your record. I’m curious, can you explain that?”

“I, uh…” I hesitate for a moment, trying to come up with the right words. “I, kinda, you know, went to the police myself.”

Professor Rowan raises an eyebrow. “So you’re saying you turned yourself in?”

“Kinda, I guess? I mean, it was close to when that crazy castle burst out of the ground, Plasma was getting out of hand, and I didn’t want any part of it anymore. So, I went to the Icirrus Police Department, told them I had info on Plasma, which I did, and I guess it was good enough for them, ‘cause I didn’t get in any trouble.” I let out a sigh. “They told me it was gonna be anonymous, though. Kinda pissed that they lied about that.”

“I can sympathize. I know I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with the police in my younger years, and they pulled similar stunts to this.”

He chuckles to himself, but quickly regains his composure. “Regardless, that is all I wanted to

ask about your personal history. It was a strange finding, to be sure, but I am confident that you will still make a fine Trainer.” His face turns deadly serious. “However, I would advise not telling people about that very specific aspect of your past.”

I hold back a guffaw. That’s almost funny, saying I shouldn’t tell anyone I’m an ex-Plasma Grunt. It’s not like I’ve been doing that for, oh, I dunno, the past two-and-a-half years, right? “I’ll keep it in mind,” I say instead, not wanting to sound mean-spirited to the Professor. I don’t know why, but I get the feeling from his mentioning of “researching” my case that he might’ve had to pull a few strings to let me do this. I silently thank him for that.

“Good, good. Now, because of their involvement with the League, the Gym Leaders have been given your record, as is the case with every new Trainer, so they will know about your past. I cannot speak for everyone, but for the most part, they will more than likely look past it.”

“I hope so.” My legs are getting a little cramped, so I stand up and stretch my arms over my head. “Is that all you wanted to ask?”

“It was indeed,” he responds, also rising from his chair. “Dawn, would you be so kind as to grab a League Card and PokéDex for me? I’d like one more quick word with Ms. Kasdan.”

With a quick nod, Dawn scampers out of the room. She didn’t ask where the professor had placed them, so I assume she knows where they are. However, I’m a bit confused on the PokéDex request. “I thought you already filled out the Sinnoh PokéDex?” “Oh, that’s not for research purposes anymore,” Rowan counters. “It mostly serves as a helpful

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reminder of the whereabouts and capabilities of the pokémon in the region. If you choose to travel to other regions, their data is stored in the device as well.” He extends his hand towards me.

“If you have one, may I say your PokéGear for a moment?”

“Uh, sure, I guess,” I mutter, taking it out of the center pocket of my hoodie. “Any particular reason?”

“I’d like to give you my contact information, just in case you would like to talk at some point in your journey.” “…or if something comes up.”

The old man sighs and places a hand on my shoulder. “Inevitably, I know something will come up. Your past is a part of you, and no matter how much you want to hide it, or how forcefully I ask you to keep it a secret, people will find out eventually. If you ever encounter any trouble, know that I am more than happy to lend a hand.”

He smiles. “I know you will make a fine Trainer.

In your kindness and fervor towards the wellbeing of pokémon, I see echoes of Champions in you. Embrace it.”

“I will,” I say, returning his smile. I don’t know what my friends were seeing in him, Professor Rowan is pretty nice. I catch of glimpse of Dawn walking back into the lab, a key card in one hand and a small, rectangular device in the other.

“Here you go,” she says, handing the objects to me. “The card is mostly for ID purposes, so you’ll have to take a picture for it. You can do that at any Pokémon Center. As for this,” she continues,

motioning to the device, “your PokéDex comes equipped with GPS, regional data, and a money exchange service for the customary after-battle exchange.”

“Actually, I can just use VenMa for that,” I interrupt. “It’s way more convenient, especially since most everyone has PokéGear these days.”

“Good point,” she continues, “but also bear in mind that some Trainers are a lot younger than you, and probably don’t have full ownership of their bank accounts yet.”

“Right, forgot you let ten-year-olds go on journeys here,” I deadpan. This elicits a snort from the Professor. {You know, I think he likes you,} I catch Yossele signing to me. {I approve.} {So do I,} I quickly respond behind my back, taking care not to drop the Dex as I place them in my pocket. {He’s cool.} “I believe that’s it, then,” Rowan says, shaking my hand one more time. “I look forward to hearing about your many adventures, Ms. Kasdan.”

“Hopefully they won’t be too crazy,” I respond, trying my best not to give him a flimsy grip to shake. After lingering for a moment, I exit the room with a quick wave, Yossele close behind. I let him pass me as we enter the hallway, take a deep breath, and center myself.

“Alright, let’s go. Sinnoh’s waiting for me.”

CHAPTER 1: GRUNT WORK

-053

THE UNDERGROUND

-055

Foul Play C H A P T E R O N E KNOCK OFF

by Another Grimsley.

battle,

another

loss

for

He looked on as his opponent, a female trainer named Kelly, picked up her Whimsicott. Kelly twirled around with her Pokémon as she told the dual grass and fairy type how proud she was of him. Despite having scratches all over his body, the Whimscott waved his arms and cheered. Grimsley’s stare then lingered at his fallen Liepard, her body sprawled on the green carpet floor reminiscent of a poker table. The platform itself hung from the walls by golden chains, the entire battle area suspended from the ground. Grimsley didn’t mind the drop below. His fingers twitched as he muttered, “Good work, Raz, you deserve a nice rest,” and returned the feline. Grimsley clipped the pokeball on his belt, and then he approached his opponent.

“You and your Pokémon shined brilliantly out there while I’m nothing more than the one that lost his light,” he said, trying to sound positive for

Bay her, and that caused Kelly to stop and beam at him. She still held Whimsicott in her arms.

“I really enjoyed our battle there, Mr. Grimsley!” she said, and the two shook hands. “You’ve been the toughest Elite Four member I have gone against.”

“I was, huh? That means you have defeated every member of the Elite Four, astonishing.” The small smile on Grimsley’s lips faded. He shifted his face and sighed, his shoulders lowered.

“There is one more opponent against whom you must prove your strength.”

He told the trainer to check the statue at the plaza, and he watched as Kelly returned her Pokémon, thanked him once more, and waved goodbye to him.

After she used the teleporter to exit his room, Grimsley walked back to his sofa and sunk down. He plopped his elbow on his seat’s arm, and he stared up at the chandelier that hung from the ceiling.

There are bad ways to win and good ways to lose. That was what he always

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told himself. After losing the last several battles, that distinction grew hazier for him.

About half an hour later, Grimsley left his room and stepped into the plaza. Four doorways, each one leading to the corresponding Elite Four’s rooms, pulsed in blue light. There was also the large statue at the center of the plaza, glowing in the same color. He stepped into the ring that was around the statue, the warm light bathing his skin, and waited a few seconds before he was lowered to the courtyard. It was another several minutes of hiking up to the Champion’s room that resided in the temple at the summit, but once Grimsley reached there he stepped inside and passed through the pillars that towered over him. He made it up to the stairs, and stopped when he saw the Champion, Iris, gazing at the starry sky backdrop behind the throne, the four emblems and the large crest floating around like balloons. When Iris noticed someone had stepped inside, she spun around and grinned at Grimsley.

“Oh, hi Grimsley!

If you’re wondering, Kelly has beaten me and is already inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Boy, she sure is a force to be reckoned with.” She then furrowed her brow at him and gripped her hands at her sides.

“Hey, are you feeling okay?”

Grimsley flinched. He drew out a breath, running his fingers through his hair. “You know how I’m the type

of gentlemen to take his losses and victories with stride? Well, lately the past several battles I feel there’s a certain… spark missing.”

“Spark?” Iris titled her head, her eyes blinking. She crossed her arms.

“You mean there’s no more excitement in you whenever you battle?”

“I guess you could say that.”

Grimsley’s gaze fell on the floor, and he tugged at his scarf. “Because of my predicament, I’ve been pondering over my next battle. One where I’m not carrying the title of Elite Four.”

Iris pursed her lips and rubbed her chin. When she thought of something, she snapped her fingers and beamed.

“Perhaps you need a nice long vacation!”

“Vacation? Like how Caitlin and Shauntal visit Undella Town on occasion?”

“Yes,” Iris said and nodded. “You take the least vacations compared to the other Elite Four members here.

Some time off should do you good.”

Releasing his grip on his scarf, Grimsley said, “It would be nice to be out for a while. Although, what if I decided to be away longer than expected?”

“No problem!” Iris’s grin widened.

“I’m sure Alder would be more than happy to take your place. And I think I know where your destination should be.”

-057

“Oh? Where, then?” Grimsley raised an eyebrow with great curiosity.

“Have you heard of the Alola region?

Very tropical climate and several islands you can drop by at. One of the most unique things about Alola is it doesn’t have a Pokémon League like Unova.”

“It doesn’t?”

Grimsley asked skeptically, and Iris shook her head.

“There are no gyms in that region, but the place still has a similar system where you battle strong trainers on each island, or something like that.” A smile tugged onto Iris’s lips. “You said you want your next battle where you’re not an Elite Four, so I figured Alola might be just what you wanted.”

As Grimsley pondered over Iris’s suggestion, his gaze locked at the background. He looked back at her and pulled out a coin from his jacket’s pocket.

“Tell you what, I’ll flip a coin. If it lands heads, then I’ll visit Alola. If tails, then I’m not taking that vacation.”

Iris glared at him, her hands on her hips. “Oh, really?” She sighed, then said, “Fine, do your coin flip thing.”

“Thank you.” Grimsley rubbed the coin with two fingers, tossed it in the air, then caught it with both palms of his hands. He lifted his left palm to show that the coin landed heads. “Well, guess I’ll go to Alola after all.”

“Great!” Iris clapped her hands and her feet bounced. “We should let Caitlin,

Shauntal, and Marshal know that you’ll be away for a while and I’ll ask Alder to take your place temporary.”

“That would be appreciated,” Grimsley said, smiling in anticipation.

While he had no knowledge of that region, Alola did sound interesting and he liked taking chances. Perhaps this gamble might be worth it.

xxx Grimsley wasn’t sure how his other colleagues would react to him taking a temporary leave from the Elite Four.

He worried that Caitlin, Shauntal, and Marshal would mock him for not taking his role seriously and not giving it his all.

Then again, even an Elite Four needed some time off to recharge. So when he announced the news to everyone in the lounge the next morning, they reacted favorably.

“Oh, so a long journey to a new region?” Shauntal said, tapping her pen on her chin. Her notebook was set aside on the coffee table, the pages spilled open. “A change in scenery could do wonders for inspiration. It worked for me whenever I wanted new ideas for my stories.”

“I’ve never been to Alola myself, but I’ve heard it’s beautiful,” Caitlin said.

She sipped some of her tea, then set her cup on the table. “I might consider going there for my next vacation.”

THE UNDERGROUND

“I too think you should go for it,” Marshal said. “Before I became part of the Elite Four I traveled to several regions to develop my strength. I’m sure that’ll be the same for you, too!”

“That is one of my intentions, yes.”

Grimsley then said, “It’s good to know that all of you are fine with me being away for a while.”

“When you get back, we can do a Pokémon battle to test out what you’ve learned from your Alola trip!” Marshal flashed him a huge grin.

Smirking, Grimsley said, “If we were to do that then we must agree on a wager. The loser has to groom and clean the winner’s Pokémon for a week.”

“Clean and groom the other’s Pokémon for a week? Ha, I’m game!”

Marshal said. He and Grimsley shook hands.

“The both of you can be immature sometimes,” Iris said, shrugging and shaking her head. Beside her, Caitlin covered her lips and yawned, as if agreeing with her.

“Don’t forget to bring all of us souvenirs!” Shauntal said. “I bet Alola has all kinds of stuff you can take home with you.”

“I’ll make sure to do that,” Grimsley said with a small smile. His mind was more at ease now that he got the announcement out of the way. Well, now to get started with planning for his trip.

xxx Grimsley prepared for his trip by first looking up some basic information on Alola online. Their set up was indeed different from Unova’s— they had a system called the Island Challenge that fit Iris’s island hopping and battle description. That sounded interesting to him, and made him wonder how it looked in action. Grimsley also briefly looked up some of the hotels for his stay there, his mother’s voice nagging in his head each time he checked the prices of the rooms. For now he had reserved a room at a hotel in Hau’oli City and would worry about trying to find other accommodation during his journey. Once he was satisfied with his travel plans, he booked a flight to Alola and packed his clothing and other essentials.

He first used the Pokémon League’s helicopter to have a pilot take him to Castelia City’s Airport. When he arrived there, many people were scrambling in and out of taxis and buses with their suitcases. He went inside the entrance to Terminal 2, where his plane would be at. It was another hour or so until he had to leave, so he went to one of the coffee shops to grab something for lunch. The smell of coffee sneaked into his nose and acoustic music strumming in the background. He approached to one of the baristas at the counter after she handed the coffee to one of the customers.

-059

“Welcome to the coffee house, how may I—” She stopped and gasped. “Oh my gosh, aren’t you Grimsley from the Elite Four?”

“The one and only,” Grimsley said with a tired smile. Even though he had mixed feelings being in the Elite Four now, it still felt nice to be recognized now and then.

“I’m Emmy! I’ve always enjoy watching your matches on television.

Before I get your order, you think you can give me your autograph?”

Grimsley responded that he would love to, and the barista pulled out a small notepad from her pant’s pocket. He signed “To Emmy my most charming fan, Grimsley,” and handed his autograph back to her.

“Thank you so much!” Emmy squealed. She put the notepad away and scratched the back of her neck sheepishly. “Anyways, what can I get for you today?”

“Just a medium sized hot coffee and sandwich, please.”

It was a few minutes until Emmy came back with his order. He stole a sip of his coffee, bitter and hot against his lips and tongue. He was about to take a seat to eat his sandwich, but stopped when a male voice screamed “I can’t believe it’s you!” at him. He turned around to see three people, two teenage boys and a girl, locked their gazes at him.

“Oh my, even more fans are here to see me off,” Grimsley said, his smile widening.

“We’re also big fans of yours!” the girl said. “I’m Kitty, and these are my friends Charlie and Jack!”

“Nice to meet you Kitty, Charlie, and Jack.” Grimsley noticed each one having pokéballs on their belts. “Are all of you trainers?”

“We are!” Jack said. “Right now we’re going on a plane to Driftveil City and participate in the Pokémon World Tournament.”

“Is that so?” Grimsley mused how after the Pokémon World Tournament was opened a few years ago, Driftveil City’s tourism boomed. He could see why many trainers like to go there. “I wish you all three good luck. I’ve heard competition there is fierce, especially if you go against a gym leader.”

“Thanks!” Charlie said, grinning.

“Each of us have a few badges already, so we should be fine. Perhaps someday we’ll get to the League and battle you!”

Grimsley’s heart sunk and his smile wavered. They didn’t need to know what had been on his mind. “Then I look forward to that when the time comes.”

“Hey, do you think we can take a few pictures with you?” Kitty asked.

After some consideration, Grimsley said, “Sure, I got some time.”

The three trainers cheered with each

THE UNDERGROUND

other and pulled out their phones.

Grimsley took several shots with them, and each one his face bore bagged eyes.

His fans didn’t mind, being content with having their pictures taken with an Elite Four. They thanked him for taking the time to talk with them, and when they left he sighed and shook his head. He took a seat to eat his meal and waited until it was time for him to catch his plane.

xxx His flight from Unova to Alola took several hours and the plane landed at Hau’oli City Airport. He got off, put his luggage in his room at the hotel he was staying, then took a ride on a carriage pulled by a Tauros. The breeze that picked up was warm but crisp, tickling his skin. He glanced around, drinking in the sights and sounds around him. Grimsley’s ride passed through the beachfront where several people sunbathed, strolled near the edge of the shore, or swam in the ocean.

In the shopping district, customers came in and out from the shops and more people lined up at the fruit and vegetable stands. Grimsley spotted many trainers and Pokémon together with smiling faces, looking like they enjoyed themselves here. One of the buildings with the sign Alola Tourist Bureau caught Grimsley’s interest and he told the driver to stop his Tauros.

Stepping inside, Grimsley first fixed his gaze at the colorful posters highlighting the region’s cities and famous tourist sights. He moved a little further and stopped at an area that displayed various souvenirs like cups, postcards, and Pokémon plushies.

Grimsley picked one of the toys up, a black bird with blue eyelids and a large shiny beak, his fingers rubbing at the soft fabric. After he put the souvenir down, he headed to the right where the brochure stand was. He glimpsed at the television screen on the wall that showcased videos of Alola’s outdoors and people chanting “Alola, alola,” and then he picked up a few brochures from the stand. Grimsley first looked at the ones that had facts on Melemele Island and Akala Island, and while some of the sights featured looked fun they didn’t grab his attention. He then checked out Ula’ula Island’s brochure and this time he smirked. He liked the aesthetic of Malie City from the pictures, and the island also had two mountains and an area that used to be a village called Tapu Village. Grimsley shoved the other two brochures back in the rack, and approached at the receptionist area where one of the ladies at the desk greeted him with a smile.

“Alola, welcome to the Alola Tourist Bureau. What can I help you with?” the female receptionist asked.

Grimsley cleared his throat. “Yes, well, I’ve got my eye on Ula’ula Island and I was wondering if you could

-061

tell me your own opinions on it,” he said, and handed the brochure to the receptionist. She gave it a quick look, and her smile widened.

Grimsley grunted in consideration.

“Very well, then, that shall be my next destination after I do some sightseeing here.”

“Sure! As you can see from the brochure, Ula’ula Island is home to two of the tallest mountains. I went to Mount Hokulani some months ago and it’s gorgeous. Malie City is also a great city to check out. ” Grimsley then asked about Tapu Village and Mount Lanakila, and the receptionist added, “While I didn’t get to climb Mount Lanakila due to it being reserved for trainers taking part in the Island Challenge, I did check out Tapu Village. You should check that place out!”

“The Marina has a ferry that can take you to Ula’ula Island. You can go over to the terminal and check the schedule.”

“Hm, I see,” Grimsley said as he scratched his chin. “How about this ‘Ruin of Abundance’? Apparently it’s home to one of your tapu guardians?”

When he was looking through the brochures, he caught on fast that Alola has Pokémon that acted as its guardians for each island. It didn’t sound too much different from Unova’s own legendary dragons and the musketeers.

“Oh, you mean Tapu Bulu? Yes, the people of that island worship it, though in order to visit the temple you need to pass through the desert. If you want to know more about Tapu Bulu or any of the other guardians, Malie City’s library should have more information on them.”

“The brochure something about

did that

mention library…”

“I’ll make sure to do that. Your input there has been very valuable.”

“Not a problem! Have fun at Ula’ula Island!” The receptionist flashed him another smile. Grimsley responded back with a nod of acknowledgement before he left the building.

Grimsley headed to the Marina next.

When he reached there, he passed by a guard and a few people gazing at the crashing ocean waves and stepped inside the terminal. More people were sitting on the seats, either waiting for their ride or waiting to pick up someone that was on their way back. He gazed up at the large screen that showed the schedule for all the ferry rides. Grimsley bought the ticket for the morning ferry for Ula’ula Island that would leave in three days. He then left the Marina and strolled around the shopping district a little more.

The next few hours Grimsley passed the time by visiting a few shops and walking along the beach. When night fell, Grimsley made his way back to the hotel, passing the receptionist still helping guests in the lobby on his way up to his room. He turned on the light.

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He put his bag of clothes on the chair that was in front of the desk, lied down on his bed, then grabbed the remote to turn on the television. On screen, a female reporter was speaking.

“Over at Akala Island, an incident occurred in Diglett’s Cave, a short distance from Heahea City. Several Team Skull grunts were harassing the Aether Foundation employees and Pokémon in that cave, but then Kahuna Olivia and two other trainers, Hau and Moon, managed to defeat them.” As the reporter was speaking, a picture of two young men wearing dark baggy clothing and chains with a silver S around their necks was shown.

Their headwear resembled a skull. The screen then changed to a young woman in pink clothing and nice jewelry being interviewed.

“When I heard that the Diglett had been growing restless for sometime, I thought I should go see what the commotion is about,” the lady, that Grimsley assumed to be Olivia, said.

“Turns out some Team Skull grunts have been up to no good there.

Fortunately Hau and Moon have helped me in getting rid of them, and now the Pokémon inside the cave have settled down.” After the interview with Olivia finished, the screen turned back to the news reporter.

Grimsley pressed his lips and tapped his chin at the mention of “Team Skull” and “gang”. He recalled several years

ago when Unova was invaded by Team Plasma twice. The group had taken over the Pokémon League upon their first incarnation; a rather unpleasant experience. If Team Skull were acting the same way in this region, then he would keep an eye on them. His eyes getting heavy, Grimsley yawned and pulled out from his bed to change into his nightclothes, and then he went to the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth before going to sleep.

xxx Heavy rain cascaded down Route 17.

Dark clouds covered the sky like smoke from a forest fire. As Nanu patrolled the area with his gray furred Persian by his side, many Pokémon took shelter next to the trees. There were a few exceptions that still rummaged through the wet grass, such as the Goomy and Pancham. For today’s patrol, he had on a raincoat over his regular clothes and rain boots that splashed the puddles left on the cobbled path. After Nanu stared at the fortified wall that fenced all of Po-Town, he turned his head to see Persian growled in dissatisfaction and shook her fur.

“Never a fan of water, huh buddy?” he asked, and Persian mewled. Nanu dropped on his knees and stroked the blue gem on his Pokémon’s forehead, causing her to purr. “Hmph. Me neither.”

-063

Suddenly an explosion shook the earth, and a shockwave knocked back Nanu’s raincoat. Smoke rose and stained the rain black. He stood back up to see smoke coming from the cliff, his ears ringing and heart pounding. His mind raced with concern that Pokémon and people were in danger, and he gritted his teeth as he reminded himself that he needed to do his damned job and get there as soon as possible.

They trudged through the dry grass and steep climbs, the mud getting stuck on Nanu’s boots and Persian’s paws. Eventually they made it to the top and stopped at the end of the cliff to see three people there. A female trainer cradled his injured Golduck in her arms while the other two with their Pokémon, a Haunter and Raticate ready to pounce, stood in front of her.

“We won fair and square, so hand over your Pokémon,” one of the trainer’s harassers told her. He and his female partner both wore the Team Skull clothing Nanu had been familiar with for a long while now. Nanu groaned and his shoulders slumped.

“Not surprised you clowns are at it again,” Nanu said.

“Yo, Dennis, it’s that police officer one of our homeboys warned us about,” the female grunt said.

“Yeah, I think it’s him, Felicia,” the other grunt said, glaring at him.

“Nothing to see here, old man. This nice girl here is about to hand over her

Pokémon to us like she promised before leaving.”

“I didn’t promise anything! You guys forced me to,” the trainer sobbed, hugging her Golduck closer against her chest.

“I’ll have to agree from the way that Golduck got beaten up there,” Nanu said. “Why don’t you guys mind your own business and scram back to your playground?”

The grunts exchanged disgusted looks, then Felicia pulled out her knife from the pocket of her pants and pointed it at the trainer. The trainer gasped and her face grew pale.

“Leave, or the kid and her Pokémon are done for,” she warned, her fingers curled around at the knife’s handle.

Before Nanu could react, he heard Persian growl deeply. He looked down and saw her claws had dug on the soggy dirt. He stared back at Team Skull to see their Haunter and Raticate had also assumed battle stances. A crooked smirk pulled onto the corners of Nanu’s mouth.

“I think you two should have listened to your homeboys, then,” he said. He pressed his fingers close to his lips and whistled.

The grunts swung their heads in confusion when a bird’s cry and flapping wings were heard. Coming from the air, Nanu’s Honchkrow dove at the female grunt and grabbed the knife from her

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hands with his claws. He approached Nanu, dropping the weapon onto his hand.

his already fluffy cheeks puffed up like a balloon and his tail thumped on the ground.

“That’s some dirty trick you did there,” Felicia seethed through gritted teeth. Besides her, her partner wore a similar expression.

Both grunts clenched their fist and gritted their teeth. Dennis ordered Haunter to use Poison Jab at Persian whereas Felicia had Raticate use Ice Beam at Honchkrow. Nanu countered by having Honchkrow use Steel Wing and Persian Play Rough. Haunter’s arms turned pink and punched Persian’s cheek. The cat Pokémon growled and a bruise appeared on her face, but then she pounced at her opponent.

Thick white smoke surrounded with stars puffed up, leaving Nanu unable to see clearly, but from the shadows’ movements and Haunter’s screeches he could tell the ghost Pokémon wasn’t enjoying any of that. When the smoke faded, more scratches and bruises were shown on Haunter’s body and he panted as Persian lifted her head and smirked. While that was going on, Raticate inhaled cold air and let out a beam of ice from his mouth, which shot straight at Honchkrow’s chest and made him screech. Honchkrow shook his wet feathers, and then his wings changed into a metallic color just as he flapped those rapidly. He dived at Raticate, smacking his back with his wings and that caused his face to smash onto the mud. Raticate bounced back after a few seconds, spitting the dirt out.

“You kids shouldn’t play with knives, anyways,” Nanu said as he put the knife back in his raincoat’s pocket.

“Oh that does it!” Dennis said and thrust his arm forward. “Haunter, get back at that Honchkrow with Thunderbolt!”

“Move at ten o’ clock and then Nightslash,” Nanu said calmly compared to the grunts.

The ghost Pokémon chuckled in glee and electricity burst out from his body.

Honchkrow was able to dodge and his feet glowed with a purple aura. When he got in contact with Haunter, his claws slashed onto his opponent and left three deep scratch marks on his face, causing the ghost type to scream in pain.

“Raticate, go ahead and Hyper Fang that bird!”

Felicia’s Raticate opened his mouth wide open, his teeth flashing, and rushed towards the Honchkrow. Nanu commanded Persian to hit the Raticate with Swift. The gem on Persian’s forehead glowed and an array of stars shot at Raticate. The rat Pokémon screeched each time he got barraged with those, and when that was finished

“You know, I’m getting bored already,” Nanu said, then he yawned.

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He pulled out the black shard from his necklace, held out his arm that had his Z-ring bracelet, and slip the shard inside there. “Let’s finish this with our Z-move, Persian.”

His Persian growled in agreement, and Nanu got ready his stance. In one fluid motion, he moved his arms around, bent his back, and stretched his arms wide after he got himself back up. A warm aura surrounded both his and Persian’s body as he watched as Persian’s gem glow. A black ball was shot up in the sky and within seconds it turned into an eclipse that began sucking the mud, grass, and leaves in its reach. As the black hole grew stronger, the grunts and their Pokémon tried to withstand its force, Raticate digging his feet and hands onto the dirt and Haunter floating away from as far as possible, but that proved to be futile when Raticate and Haunter too got sucked in. Seconds later, the eclipse faded and Raticate and Haunter dropped on the ground hard and collapsed instantly. The grunts reacted unfavorably, Felicia taking her hat off and stomping on it while her partner dragged his hands on his face.

“Hey, you can’t do that! That’s foul play!” Dennis complained. He and Felicia then returned their defeat Pokémon. Nanu snorted, and behind him his Persian shook off her wet fur.

“Funny you should say that as I used that move to make that Z-move. Now would be a good time to hurry your ass

off or my Pokémon won’t hesitate to hurt you.” On cue, his Persian growled and Honchkrow let out a sharp chirp at the grunts.

“All right, all right, we’ll leave,” Felicia said, lifting her hands in defeat.

“This is way whacked, man.” Both grunts hurried out, not turning back.

Nanu dragged a sigh and touched his forehead, then he turned around to see the trainer, still holding her Golduck, looked at him in awe. He and his Pokémon approached her.

“Are you alright, miss?” he asked, bending his knees.

“I am, but my Golduck isn’t,” the trainer said, her voice laced with worry.

Her Golduck’s chest moved very slowly and he made uneven breaths.

“I have some potions and other medicine down at the police station.

I’ll take you there.” Nanu stood up and waited for the girl to return Golduck in his pokéball. He then took the girl’s hand and they headed out together.

Po Town’s police station was a fairly small building with only a handful of jail cells and rooms. The bookshelf, bulletin board, and his clothes were settled on one corner of the room. One of the couches had bags of chips, cans of various food, and Pokémon food dumped there. Various stray Meowth walked around inside, a couple of them sleeping on the beds Nanu had put on the desks. After Nanu grabbed some potions and sprayed them on his

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Pokémon, Persian went to play with a few of the Meowth while Honchcrow ignored them. As soon as the trainer let Golduck out, she and Nanu laid him down on another couch that was across Nanu’s workspace, a computer and monitor on a table. Nanu touched Golduck’s forehead, which was very warm against his palm. He sprayed the rest of the potions all over Golducks’ body. It was a few minutes until a portion of the Pokémon’s cuts and bruises began to disappear. Nanu then let Golduck slowly chew some berries from his palm.

“Your Golduck is starting to have a fever and will still have some scars on him, but he should be good after he gets some rest,” he said just as the girl puffed up a pillow for Golduck and tucked him in under a blanket. She faced Nanu, smiling at him in gratitude.

“Thank you so much for saving me and Golduck out there. I was trying to find the kahuna of this island, but then I bumped into Team Skull and they harassed me to giving my Pokémon to them.”

Nanu didn’t flinch, but he did raise an eyebrow and glanced at the colorful amulet attached to her bag. “Oh, so you’re one of those kids that’s taking part in the island challenge, er…”

“Rachel,” the girl Rachel said. “And yes, I am. I already challenged both Sophocles and Acerola’s trials and defeated their totem Pokémon, so I’m

wondering if you know where I can find Kahuna Nanu.”

“You did, huh? Well, you’re looking at him right now.”

Rachel’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, you’re Kahuna Nanu?” she asked, and Nanu nodded. She grinned. “Oh, can we have a battle right now?”

“Woah, hold up,” Nanu didn’t hesitate to say. “How about your Golduck there? He’s still in bad shape.”

“I have other Pokémon I can use, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“There isn’t a working Pokémon Center nearby and I don’t think I have enough potions for the rest of your friends. Besides, the next island, Poni Island, doesn’t even have a kahuna yet last I heard.”

“Oh, I see.” Rachel hung her head down with a frown, her gaze at the sleeping Golduck.

Nanu stared at Rachel, regarding her in silence. He still thought it was dumb of her to ask a battle like that, but he was hasty in denying her request. With a sigh, Nanu pinched his nose.

“Tell you what, why don’t you stay here for a night or two and then we can have our battle. I ordered some more potions earlier that should be sufficient, but I won’t go easy on you.”

This time, Rachel’s face lit up. “Oh thank you, thank you thank you,” she said then threw her arms around Nanu’s waist. He froze, taken aback

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by her reaction. At length he rolled his eyes and forced her to let go.

“All righty, that’s enough sappiness there.” He shifted his head, his finger pointing at the couch where the food got piled. “I’ll move that junk in the other room and then I can make us some sort of meal to eat.”

“Okay!” Rachel said and nodded.

When she turned back to watch over Golduck, Nanu moved away from them and began grabbing some cans and bags from the other couch that he intended to put in another room.

He wasn’t the most welcoming person and easiest to warm up to, but this should do.

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SHATTERED SELVES

by

Vulpi

-069

“You can’t protect yourself from a frontal attack like that. Look at how exposed your stomach is.”

A Weavile kicked the Snover square in the gut before he had a chance to give her a rebuttal. He immediately fell backwards and let out a sharp inhale.

He then clutched his stomach with his thick paws and rolled onto his side.

There was a flash, and then the Weavile was suddenly looming over the Snover, pushing her claws against his throat. No blood pooled around her claws, but she knew her message had reached the Snover at her mercy. She could feel him shuddering.

The Weavile kept her glance on the Snover for a moment longer before she removed her claw from his throat.

“Try again,” she told him as she backed away. “Find a stance that’ll protect you from a frontal assault.”

“In… In a moment…” the Snover wheezed out. “I… I can’t breathe… too well.”

The Weavile sighed, but knew that nothing else could be done. She had knocked the wind out of him after all. That was always something quite difficult to recover from unless the opponent had thick hides protecting their organs or lacked any organs in the first place like the ghost-types. So, after taking note of the Snover’s raspy breaths, she looked at the room the two found themselves in.

They were in a circular room, a section of a dojo that the Weavile was given to train other Pokémon. There was nothing in her training room, unlike the other trainers’ rooms. She had left the ground barren and covered in the dirt that had been there ever since the dojo had been built and left the walls as a blank, white canvas. The only notable aspect of her room was the hole in the ceiling that allowed the evening sun’s waning rays to seep inside the room. The other dojo rooms sometimes had ivy flood into the room through the hole or covered it up with glass panes, but the Weavile had left it alone. She had never minded the rain that flooded into her room during the storms. It had always made for very interesting training sessions.

“Why… why do you have to go… all out, Master Glace?” the Snover asked.

“Why can’t you… go easy on me? You know… I’m not as strong as you.”

The Weavile brought her gaze back over to the Snover to see that he was still on the ground, panting. He hadn’t moved since she last looked at him.

“First of all, I’m not using my full power on you,” Glace answered. “I’m pulling my punches. If I wasn’t, I would have slammed into that wall behind you.”

“Oh geez…”

“But to answer your real question, it’s because you’ve reached the point

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where you can take it. You came to me wanting to get stronger, and you don’t get stronger by having me go easy on you. I have to push you every time you start learning to tolerate the strength I use against you. I told you the moment I started training you that I would be this way.”

“I know… but I didn’t think it’d hurt so much. I feel like you broke something…”

Glace highly doubted that she had broken anything in her student, but didn’t bother to make a comment on it. She only watched him rise to his feet. He staggered for a moment, almost falling back onto the ground the moment he stood back up, but he was able to remain on his feet just before his weakness could overwhelm him.

“Are you ready to try again?” she asked.

The Snover nodded. He crossed his thick arms over his body once again, though this time making sure that he covered his stomach as well. Glace noted that he was still shuddering and that there was a mark on the spot where she had kicked him.

“No,” Glace replied.

Glace then shot forward on her swift feet, and then before the Snover could even see her, she kicked him right where his arms intersected. He flew back for a moment before crashing back down, sending dust up into the air.

“But it still hurts,” she then said. “It only makes it so that you can get back up again without a moment’s delay. A blow to the arm is more bearable than a blow to the chest or stomach. You can shake it off much more easily.”

The Snover didn’t bother to get back up. He only remained where he was, rubbing his arms with his paws gingerly. Glace sighed and shook her head.

“We’re done for today,” she stated.

“Get yourself some orans from Remedy in the refreshment area. Come back whenever you want to see me again.

You know when I’m here.”

“Okay… thank you, Master Glace.”

“Better,” she said. “It’ll be more difficult for a fighting-type to kick you in a vulnerable spot now. They’ll only be able to attack your arms now.”

Glace didn’t say anything in return.

She only strolled past the downed Snover and made her way to the makeshift door that was nothing more than a rectangular hole in the wall with a red drape to separate the room from the rest of the dojo. Glace pulled back the drape with her claws before exiting her room.

“And that won’t hurt as much as being kicked in the stomach, right?” the Snover asked.

She soon found herself in the main lobby of the dojo. Seven other makeshift doors were within the walls

-071

surrounding her, leading to the other trainer rooms and other services that the dojo provided. Each one was covered with a drape just like Glace’s room, preventing outsiders from peering into the training sessions. That had always been the policy at the dojo; grant the students privacy from others. No one wanted others to see them in their moments of struggling.

Against the back wall, in between two doors, was a doorway that held no drapes to shield it from onlookers. That was the leisure room, the area where all of the dojo masters went when they had no students to train and wanted a few moments of relaxation. It was a spacious room, almost half as large as the main lobby itself, and had a number of seats, tables, and other such furniture for the trainers to lounge around in.

There was always at least one Pokémon in that room, either napping or having a meal break.

The current moment was no exception, though there were far more Pokémon in the room than she had ever seen before. The Weavile couldn’t help but make her way over to doorway and peer inside of the large room. As soon as she did, she realized that many of the Pokémon gathered within were dojo trainers, along with the other employees, such as the Greninja that was the first to greet and assist the students they all trained. There were some other Pokémon that Glace didn’t recognize as well, such as a young

Pikachu and Torchic playing some sort of game with sticks and leaves, a Jigglypuff slumbering at a table, or an Ekans and Seviper intertwining their tails together. There was even a Noivern roaming about the party, eying Pokémon for a few moments before moving onto another group of Pokémon and doing the same thing. No one seemed to notice the Noivern, as if it were a ghost invisible to all.

Everyone was chatting amongst themselves, or eating from the large assortments of foods on the tables. No one seemed to notice Glace standing there in the doorway, watching it all from afar.

“Well well, if it isn’t Glace.”

Glace saw something in the corner of her eye. She snapped her head to the side to find that there was now a Marowak in her presence. He was using his bone club as a staff to lean against, all the while giving her an amused stare. Glace was certain he was smiling from beneath his mask as well.

The tenseness in her muscles eased when she fully saw the Marowak. He was another dojo trainer; he was one of the first trainers she met when she first began to work there. They had never talked much, but his name was the only dojo trainer’s name she knew.

She had never bothered to remember anyone else’s names.

“Why’s asked.

everyone

in

there?”

she

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“Because we’re having an anniversary party!” the Marowak answered with a small laugh. “We’ve been here in Granite Town for ten years. Having a dojo around that long is pretty impressive, if I do so myself.

So why not celebrate for such a great milestone?”

So that was the reason why. Glace had completely forgotten that the dojo had been around for so long. In truth, she had never paid much attention to the history of the dojo or anything regarding its foundation. All she knew was that she had joined nine years ago when there had been an opening for a new trainer. Everything else she had never bothered to pay any mind.

“So are you going to join or not?” the Marowak then asked. “It’d be nice to have you around. Maybe I can even know what you’re like when you’re not throwing your students all over your training room. Surely there’s more to you than being some nonchalant sadist.

I want to know what’s going on inside of that cold head of yours.”

Glace scoffed. Of course, that was what parties were for. Besides having a wonderful time, it was also about mingling amongst your peers. The moment she put her foot into the doorway, Pokémon would try to talk to her. They would try to get into her head and understand why she was the way she was.

They would want to know who she

was before she had become a dojo trainer and where she had come from.

“I’m not going to your party, Mar,” Glace answered. “You can all have fun without me.”

“Aw what? Why not? It’ll be great!”

“I don’t think it will be. I was never a social Pokémon before. There’s no reason why I should start being one now.”

“I don’t think I believe that. I think that you’re capable of being a social Pokémon that can talk to just about anyone, otherwise you wouldn’t be a trainer. Because every day you have to talk to someone. You have to teach them how to make themselves stronger and what they might be doing wrong.”

“Being a good teacher doesn’t mean anything.”

“Well even if it didn’t, you’re still a Weavile. Isn’t it in your instincts to be able to cooperate with other Weavile to make perfect hunts? Like don’t all of you work in some big pack and give each other signals so you can kill Piloswine?”

Glace saw an image in her mind’s eye.

She saw herself leading four smaller Weavile through a snow-covered forest.

They were following the footprints of a large creature. Something with two long claws protruding out of each of its feet.

Something that was most definitely one of the strange, ice-type Sandslash that roamed in very particular forests of the region.

-073

She knew the Sandslash had been there recently. The footprints were quite fresh. If the pack cooperated with her, they could all have a tasty Sandslash in a couple of hours. Maybe they’d even be fortunate enough to find that the Sandslash had led them straight to her den filled with her hatchling Sandshrew.

They only needed to cooperate and listen to her. They only had to obey her orders precisely and not deviate from them in the slightest.

Glace stopped herself before her strange train of thought could go any further. She frowned as she glanced back at the party, finding that nothing had changed since the last moment she had eyed the crowd. Everyone was still talking amongst themselves, sharing stories, partaking in cold gossip, or spouting endless details about their lives and all of the grand things they had done and how great they were as Pokémon.

“Have fun at your party, Mar,” Glace finally said before she turned away from the crowd. “Try not to stay up too late.”

And then, without waiting for a response, she left the dojo.

It was dark by the time Glace made it home. The sun had long set during her walk from the dojo to her home, blanketing the little mountain town

with calming darkness. She hadn’t seen any Pokémon as she weaved her way through the town to her home, but that wasn’t something terribly surprising.

Here, not many Pokémon stayed out past evening. All of the shops closed up by the time the darkness snuffed out the last ray of sun, leaving nothing to do when night settled upon the land.

There was not even a single torch set up to brighten the roads nor an illuminous orb.

Everyone stayed inside after dark, no exceptions. It had been that way the entire nine years Glace had lived in Granite Town, all to avoid the nocturnal ferals that would climb down the mountains and roam about the streets.

Dark-types were usually the creatures, such as Mightyena and Absol, though there was the occasional Ursaring. All of them were a Pokémon no one wanted to face.

Of course, Glace had never feared them. If she ever saw one during her walks home, she would hide behind a tree or scurry home long before they could ever detect her. Though fearsome to many, they were actually very predictable once you saw them enough times. Once you saw the pattern, you always knew how to deal with them.

When Glace reached her home, a simple wooden cottage that was nearly identical to all the homes of the village, she quietly opened the door before going inside and shutting the

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door behind her. She found herself in the massive room that made up the entirety of her home. The dimming light of a week-old illuminating orb on a table in the center of the room barely alit the room with a turquoise hue, but it was enough for Glace. Even with that meager amount of light, she could see everything with the same amount of clarity as she could in the daylight.

She could see the empty stone chimney in the corner, the bed resting against the opposite wall, the basket of berries resting near the table, and the basin of water near the bed.

But mostly, she saw the pile of wood stacked near the chimney. The moment she saw it, she made her way toward the pile. Many would have presumed it was firewood to be used during the frigid winters, but Glace had no need for warmth in the winter. She was perfectly fine with the cold that winter brought, even in the mountains. To her, even the harshest blizzard felt the

same as a warm spring day.

When Glace reached the pile, she grabbed a piece and brought it over to the bed with her. Then she sat down and adjusted her seat, she set the wood in her lap and put one set of claws on the wood’s surface.

She pressed her claws harder against the wood, sinking them deep, and then she slowly carved a shape. The sound of claws scrapping echoed throughout the house, but Glace ignored it as she continued carving away at the wood.

Within seconds, she had finished her work. There was now a picture on the surface of the wood, a crude circle within a three much larger circles. It wasn’t anything particularly impressive, as any Pokémon with claws could have made the same symbol, but she had no intentions of showing this to anyone anyway. She only did this out of habit, to make sure her claws could still gouge wood as easily as they could before.

-075

Make a wide circle around the prey.

When she finished creating the symbol, she made another one right next to it. This time, it was two lines running parallel to each other with a circle between them.

Follow the prey on both sides. Don’t let it see you.

Glace flipped the board of wood over and made a new symbol. This one took longer to make, as it required more lines to carve out, but it didn’t take more than ten seconds to complete the drawing. Now it was a single circle, surrounded by many jagged lines all very close to it, mere millimeters away from overlapping it.

Surround it and attack all at once.

A bright light suddenly went off near the window opposite of where Glace sat. She looked up from her wooden canvas just as the light faded, but she still saw the tail end of the light before it retreated back into the darkness.

Glace set the wood aside as she got up and made her way over to the window before peering out into the neighborhood.

Much to her great surprise, there was a large congregation of Pokémon outside, all of them gathered not too far away from her home. They didn’t appear to be doing anything particular, only looking up at the sky and pointing at something with their paws, as well as speaking in muffled, distant

voices. What they could possibly be so enthralled by, Glace didn’t know.

Perhaps the fabled Millennium Comet had appeared after all this time. Glace wasn’t much for celestial wonders in the sky, but she could imagine how one could cause such a commotion.

It was a disruption in the normally peaceful night sky, a spatial wonder that reminded those of the planet that there were things beyond that world that they could not understand.

Nonetheless, Glace knew it had to be something quite fascinating to have them all leave their homes and stand in the street when it was still dark. So, after keeping her gaze on the townsfolk for a moment longer, she looked up into the dark sky and beheld an astonishing sight.

There was a great tear in the sky that stretched for seemingly miles, as though a great hand had grabbed the very fabric that made up the sky and pulled it apart. And within that great rip in the sky, there was no darkness.

There was a great mesh of various colors, all of them swirling around each other chaotically or mixing together to create brand new colors that Glace had never seen before. Great explosions of white went off within the mess of colors, and each time Glace was sure something would spill out of the hole and into the town. However, it would never happen. The flash would go off, and then the colors would continue to swirl, as if nothing had happened.

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Glace found she could only stare up at the surreal wonder, unable to process what she was seeing.

It was then that Glace felt a sudden chill run down her spine. She felt something dark and heavy settle over her heart as she gazed at that tear in the sky, something that made her head spin and her claws tremble. She took in a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself, but they did nothing. Her heartbeat only quickened.

Something wasn’t right. She didn’t know what, but something wasn’t right anymore. Something within her mind vehemently insisted that something was very wrong and that she should be very, very afraid.

Glace couldn’t remember the last time she had felt like this. It had been too long since she had such an oppressive, foreboding feeling before, the kind one has when they find themselves staring up at a monstrous Pokémon about to snap its jaws over you.

She didn’t know why she was feeling this way. So what if there was a tear in the sky? That didn’t mean anything.

There was no reason to feel as though she was gazing into death’s very jaws.

There was absolutely proof that the strange rift in the sky meant anything.

For all she knew, it was a phenomenon that happened on the mountains in this particular part of the region. No one outside seemed to be screaming hysterically or running away.

There was a knock at the door before the dread could seep any further into Glace’s mind. Her claws stopped shaking as she found herself back in reality, no longer thinking about the tear in the sky. Instead, she wondered who could possibly be at her door at this hour. Granted there were all those Pokémon outside, but they didn’t seem interested in knocking on neighbor’s doors.

Glace made her way over to the door.

She stopped in front of it and then took in a breath and exhaled deeply. When all of the air left her lungs, she opened the door.

There was a Noivern standing on the other side of the door. Glace immediately recognized the Noivern to be the one she saw that the dojo’s party. However, the Noivern no longer seemed like a nosy dragon that clearly didn’t belong to the party but futilely tried to blend in anyway. There was something different about her.

Namely, Glace felt like she actually knew the Noivern now that she got a good look at her.

She couldn’t recall if she had met this Noivern before. She certainly would have remembered this Noivern with the way she seemed to resist wrapping her wings around her body and had this shy smile on her face that seemed very unfit for most dragon-types. And when Glace really thought about it, she didn’t think she had ever really talked

-077

to a Noivern before. She had seen a couple in her lifetime from a distance, but they were all male. None of them were female like this one.

“Hi there, Glace,” the Noivern said with a wave of her claw. “I hope I didn’t wake you up. I know that it’s pretty late right now and I was going to wait until morning, but then I saw that huge hole in the sky and well… it made me remember we don’t have a lot of time.”

Glace had to resist scowling. She could feel her skin crawling.

“What are you talking about?” Glace asked as she narrowed her eyes. “And how do you even know my name?”

“I know this is going to sound crazy, but…”

The Noivern glanced behind her and seemed to notice all of the Pokémon within earshot.

“Actually, we shouldn’t talk out here,” she said. “We might freak everyone out. Can you let me inside?”

“I’m not letting you into my house,” Glace growled. “You really think I’m going to let some stranger in here?”

“Aw come on, Glace,” the Noivern pleaded. “Don’t be like this. I’m not going to steal anything or hurt you.

You know I won’t.”

Glace was about to refute the Noivern and tell her to leave, but she looked at the Noivern again and saw something in her eyes. Something familiar, something in her memories that she

couldn’t quite grasp. Something that told her she could trust this Noivern and that no harm would come.

The Weavile sighed and stepped out of the way.

“Alright fine, get in here,” she said.

There couldn’t be too much harm in letting the Noivern into her home.

If she tried to steal anything, Glace knew she could easily take her down.

Noivern were extremely susceptible to cold, after all. Hitting them with one measly snowball made their entire body shudder violently. Glace could only imagine what a gust of frosty air could do to a Noivern.

The Noivern’s smile brightened as she hurried inside the house. Glace shut the door behind her and watched as the Noivern settled herself by the table. The Weavile then joined her and soon, the two were sitting opposite of each other, holding a gaze.

“Alright, we’re inside,” Glace then said. “What do you want to tell me?”

“Well, I think I should introduce myself first,” the Noivern replied.

“I think it’s the only real way to talk about everything I wanted to tell you.

So, my name is Sonata. I’m a spy for this… guild. It’s really not a guild, but I’m just going to call it a guild because explaining what it actually is would take too long. I used to work there ever since I was a Noibat. Spent a good twenty three years there. I really liked being

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there. I’d do recon for the leader of the guild and I’d give him any information I’d find. He was happy with me and I was happy to serve him because he was such an amazing Pokémon. He was so kind and strong, and he was such a great leader. I was totally fine with working for him for the rest of my life.

“But then I saw that rip in the sky… and my whole world changed.”

Sonata sighed as she fiddled with her claws for a moment. Glace noticed that they were impressively sharp, though covered in a good number of scratches.

She imagined that they were like that from digging them into too many hard surfaces such as cave walls.

“I know why the sky is torn open,” Sonata said quietly. “It’s because all of the dimensions are starting to unravel.

The fabric of reality that used to tie them together is coming undone and pretty soon… all the dimensions are going to collapse in on each other and kill everyone.” “… what?” Glace asked. “The dimensions are… what are you even talking about?”

“This place you live in, this universe you live in, it’s not the only one there is. There’s a whole bunch of them that are all connected.

I don›t know if they were all separate dimensions originally or if they were all one before it got split up for some reason, but the point is that there are multiple universes living right next

to yours. Entire universes filled with their own little problems and rules and Pokémon that have lives just like you.

You just can’t see them because you don›t have that power.”

Glace didn’t know how to respond. In truth, she had heard of the multiverse theory before. Supposedly, other dimensions did live alongside their own dimension, all of the dimensions completely unaware of the others.

Glace had never believed in the theory though, so seeing Sonata spout about it made her start to question why she had allowed the Noivern into her house on a sheer whim. Why had she done that?

She never did that with other Pokémon, including those that she actually knew.

“And you would know this, how?”

Glace then asked, deciding to humor the idea. “You don’t have any proof that’s the reason the hole is there. It could be something else, like a spatial anomaly. Doesn’t have to mean that the dimensions are collapsing on each other.”

“But it does,” Sonata insisted. “That tear is a sign that the whole multiverse is going to get destroyed. Because the truth is... I had a vision after I saw that hole in the sky. And in that vision, I saw how the tear got there. I saw what that it’s going to spread and what’s going to happen if it’s not closed up.”

“That vision doesn’t mean anything.

It could have been a reaction to your anxiety about the strange hole.”

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“I thought that, Glace. I really did.

But then I saw something else in my vision. I saw what really broke my world.”

“And what was that?”

“That I’m not actually a Noivern. I’m a piece of someone, someone that wanted to stop all of this from happening, but got split apart before they could stop the tear from forming. Someone who had their soul split apart and had their soul pieces scatter all over the multiverse, where each piece then took on the form of some Pokémon, totally unaware of what they really were.

“And you Glace, are also one of those pieces.”

The moment Glace heard those words, that foreboding feeling came back. And though Glace told herself that this Noivern had probably suffered from a panic attack and that vision was nothing more than a hallucination, the feeling refused to go away.

“I saw all of the pieces and what they looked like, but yours was the only one I saw that also told me where you were right this second,” Sonata continued.

“It told me that you’d be in Granite Town, working at the dojo. So as soon as I saw that, I came here to find you.

Took a little while to figure out how to hop dimensions, but I did it, and now I’m here with you. You were exactly where the vision said you’d be.”

Sonata breathed deeply as she set her

claws down on the table and softened her gaze.

“I know that this is all probably hard to believe, but it’s true,” she said. “You can feel it, can’t you? Isn’t that why you let me in and listen to me even though you really had no reason to trust me?

Some part of you knows that we’re connected.

“Plus, didn’t you feel anything when you saw that tear in the sky? I know you had to have felt something. There was something off about you when you opened that door to let me in. You tried to hide it, but I saw-” Glace had heard enough. She slammed her claw down on the table, prompting a small jump out of the Noivern. Glace pointed her other claw at the door, praying that Sonata didn’t notice how much it was trembling.

“Get out of my house,” she hissed. “I don’t ever want to see you again.”

“Glace… look, I get that this is a lot to take in,” Sonata started to say, refusing to move an inch. “I had a hard time with it too. Took me a couple of days to accept everything. But it’s the truth! And if we want to stop that tear from getting any bigger and getting into any of the other dimensions, we need to find the other pieces and become whoever we were before.”

“No, you’re just delusional. You saw that hole in the sky and it made your mind fall apart because you had no idea

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what to think of it. It filled your head with these insane ideas so you could try to understand what that thing is outside. We’re fragments of someone that got split apart? What kind of story is that?”

“It makes sense if you think about it, Glace. Tell me… what do you remember about your parents? Go on, tell me what they were like.”

Glace opened her mouth, but then stopped as a horrible realization came over her. She had no memory of her parents, whatsoever. She had memories of a childhood and being a Sneasel, but for the life of her, she could not remember the ones who had raised her since she had hatched from her egg. There were other Weavile in her memory, plenty of them, but not a single one claimed to be her mother or father.

“You can’t remember, can you?”

Sonata asked rhetorically. “Well, same thing with me. It’s just something you don’t think about for some reason. For whatever reason, you never feel like wondering where your parents are and where you came from. You wonder why that is?”

“It doesn’t mean anything. My upbringing was different than most civilized Pokémon’s. It was probably one of the customs to never let the hatchlings meet their parents.”

Glace could taste her own lie. There had only been a couple hatchlings

that were orphans, but they had been told by the others what had happened to their parents. Not Glace, though.

No one had said anything about her parents. No one told her if she had been abandoned when she was still an egg or that her parents had perished in a hunting incident. No one had said anything to her.

“Get out or I swear I’ll make you get out,” Glace hissed.

“I’m not leaving,” Sonata shot back, now returning Glace’s stern gaze. “You know that I’m telling you the truth. We have to go find the others. We need to get them and stop the multiverse from collap-” Glace swiped at the Noivern’s left eye before she even knew what she was doing. A blood-curdling scream filled the air as her attack connected.

Glace flinched and swiftly withdrew her claw before backing away from the Noivern. She could see Sonata hissing and squirming as she covered her eye with one of her wings.

“I didn’t mean to do that…” Glace said uneasily. “I just wanted-” “So you’re not going to listen to me,” Sonata rasped. “You’re not going to believe me, no matter what I tell you.”

Sonata removed her wing from her face, allowing Glace to see that the Noivern’s left eye now had three long marks gouging deep into her flesh.

Trickles of blood and tears ran down

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her cheeks. Glace knew that Sonata would probably never be able to use that eye again. She resisted the urge to glance down at her claw and see how much blood it was coated with.

The Noivern kept her burning gaze on the Weavile a moment longer, then released a long sigh.

“And chances are, neither will any of the others,” she went on. “They’re probably going to attack me sooner than believe me. I should have realized that. I was being way too optimistic, thinking that all of you were going to believe me without some kind of struggle.”

you admit you believe, too.”

That was when Sonata sprang at Glace. Glace instinctively darted to the side, but much to her surprise, found she wasn’t fast enough. Sonata suddenly gained a tremendous boost in speed, as though she had become a lightning bolt, and collided with Glace before the Weavile could take one step.

However, instead of Sonata knocking Glace down, something else happened.

The Noivern’s body turned into a mass of iridescent light, light so bright that it drowned everything in her vision with its brilliance.

The Noivern shook her head before giving Glace a sad smile.

All she could see was the light seeping into her body, becoming one with her.

“I was never good at fighting. Spies are good at sneaking around and being stealthy, but not so much at combat,” Sonata then said. “But you’re good at fighting, Glace. If the other fragments were to give you a hard time… you could stop them before they really hurt you. You wouldn’t get your eye messed up like me.”

A horrible pain suddenly shot through Glace’s skull, as if a bolt of lightning had struck her head. She grabbed her head as she staggered backwards before tripping over her own feet. The pain only grew as the back of her head smacked against the ground, soon turning into a sensation of someone slowly driving a claw into the back of her skull.

“What are you talking about?” Glace asked. “Why are you talking like I’m going to help you? I already told you I don’t believe a single word you just said.”

All sound left her ears as darkness sprouted of the corners of her eyes and flooded the rest of her vision. She could no longer feel the ground beneath her as she slipped further and further away.

“I heard you, don’t worry,” Sonata assured. “You said you don’t think I’m telling the truth. I know that. But I know that you do believe it.

But just before she could completely fade away and become one with the black shrouding her vision, she saw something within that darkness.

“And I think I know how to make

It was a creature of ambiguous

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shape. No matter how much Glace stared at it, she could not discern its shape. Every time its shape seemed to take on an identifiable form, her vision would warp and the creature would be an unidentifiable mass once again. All she could tell was that bluish-white light surrounded its entire body like a radiating aura, making the creature a tiny beacon of light amongst the sea of darkness surrounding them.

A flash of light suddenly went off.

Everything became an all-compassing white, taking the creature with it and throwing Glace into a world of absolute nothingness. She would have shielded her eyes if she had the ability to.

When the light faded and the darkness returned, Glace found that the creature now had a gaping, black hole in its midsection, about the size of an apple. The creature looked down at the hole and for a moment, did nothing.

And then it happened.

One moment, the creature was whole, gazing at the hole with a vacant expression.

And then the next moment, it abruptly shattered into several pieces, as though someone had thrown a mirror to the ground. The second the fragments formed, each one of them went under an instantaneous metamorphosis. One of the fragments sprouted wings from the sides of its body. Another had multiple tendrils crawl out of its shuddering form

before sinking low to the ground.

Another produced four legs and ears so sharp, it could pick up on even the subtlest of sounds. Multiple fragments produced four limbs, only to stand up and change their front legs into arms moments later. There was even one that didn’t change at all, remaining a blob of no discernable shape.

However, amongst all of the fragments, there was one Glace noticed the most. One of the upstanding fragments that held a rather nasty set of claws, which she was quick to realize was a Sneasel.

That fragment was her.

Its face was shrouded in darkness, but Glace knew that the clawed fragment was her. The way it stood with its shoulders slightly hunched and the way it subtly held its claws up, ready to strike at a moment’s notice, was far too similar to her own posture.

Before Glace could study the apparent doppelganger any longer, multiple tears suddenly ripped through the darkness above them. Within each of these tears, there lay a location. In one, a forest blossoming with life. In another, a stone castle towering over a prosperous city. Each one was unique to the others, holding places that Glace had never seen before.

Each of the fragments looked up the rips as they suddenly started grow closer and closer together. All the locations within the tears fell

at to of to

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ruin, the forest now a rotting wasteland in the midst of a harsh blizzard and the castle now falling to pieces as its city burned.

All of the fragments gazed at a single tear, not a single one of them gazing at the same hole as another fragment, watching them with the same vacant stare that their whole form wore.

Then, all at once, they leapt into the tears. Each one of the fragments disappeared into a single tear so that not a single tear was unoccupied. They scrambled through the collapsing worlds, hurrying about in what appeared to be a frantic search.

There was a flash of light, and then, all chaos within the tears stopped. The destruction had ceased and life was slowly returning to normal. Pokémon carefully rebuilt their world, returning forests back to their former glory, nursing the injured back to health, putting out the ravaging fires, all of these things.

All of the tears then closed up and disappeared into the darkness.

The only thing that remained was the original creature Glace had seen earlier before it had split up, towering high above her and gazing upon her with its luminous eyes.

Find the others, Glace.

Become one.

Glace suddenly found herself back in her house, collapsed on the ground.

She was sweating, shaking violently, and had tears in the corner of her eyes.

The Weavile rubbed at her eyes with the back of her claw before she slowly stood back up. Her head no longer throbbed with that horrible pain, but she could still feel a dull ache in the back of her skull.

She breathed in slowly as she looked around her home. Sonata was nowhere to be found. Her blood was still in a small puddle on the floor, along with being stained to Glace’s claws, but none leading to the door. There was no trail.

It was as though Sonata had abruptly stopped existing.

I’m not really gone, Glace.

I’m still here.

The Weavile jumped at the sudden voice. She knew that voice. That was Sonata’s voice. And yet, she was nowhere in sight…

“Sonata? Where did you go?” Glace asked, quickly composing herself.

In your head. I’m you now.

Glace saw something flash in her mind’s eye. It was quick, but for just one second, she saw Sonata looking at her in the very darkness Glace had just escaped from.

It was only then did Glace realize how much Sonata’s voice sounded more like the thoughts in her head rather than noises from the outside world.

“How did you-”

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I merged myself with you. I let you assimilate me. You don’t remember how I turned into that light? That was me, merging with you.

You finally going to admit you’re a fragment now?

Glace’s knees started to feel weak.

Standing was becoming very laborious and tiring all of the sudden.

Memories that weren’t Glace’s own leaked into her mind and meshed with hers. She saw the supposed guild leader that Sonata worked for, a Suicune of all Pokémon. She saw how everything Sonata did was to impress him and to be his most prized member. She wanted to be the best of the best, the greatest spy of all his other spies.

Glace saw how Sonata had gained her current status with the Suicune.

She had gone on a mission to see if the enemy was hiding out in a secluded area someone had told them about.

During that mission, Sonata figured out that those enemies knew about the guild and were planning on attacking it after returning to their home base and rallying up their allies.

Glace saw how she had made a mistake and the enemies spotted her.

She saw how the Noivern accidentally destroyed the entire place in an attempt to escape, killing everyone inside. And then she saw her frantically flying back to the guild as demonic ghost-types stalked her through the night...

And then, she saw the tear in the sky open up in Sonata’s dimension. She saw the Noivern’s entire perception of reality fall apart, thrusting her into a full-blown existential crisis where she questioned if anything she had ever believed was true. Maybe there was no such thing as Arceus and that all of the universes were created by a great explosion in the void that was every universe there ever was and ever would be.

But within days, Sonata knew what really mattered. She had to abandon the only one that mattered to her, to tell him that she could no longer be his spy, and find her other selves in the other dimensions. She knew it would hurt. She knew how much the Suicune depended on her. She was the most reliable of all his members. She was the one who never failed him, no matter how dire the situation was.

But she knew she had to leave.

Even though being with her leader slowly drove away the malicious influence oppressing her homeland and terrorizing the denizens within, there was a much bigger threat now.

Something that would wipe out the entire dimension if she didn’t act.

So the night before she departed, she wrote a note to her leader. She struggled and her claws wouldn’t stop shaking, making her writing borderline illegible, but she didn’t know how else to tell the Suicune what she had to do.

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She didn’t have the courage to tell him all of this to his face. She couldn’t bear the sight of his pained, bemused face that begged her to explain why she had to leave so abruptly and never come back.

She knew it would prevent her from ever leaving behind her dimension.

Hey, stop looking at my memories!

Those are private you know!

The memories promptly ceased, leaving Glace with a view of her wall instead. However, Glace did not move.

There was no longer any denying what Sonata had said. Everything that seemingly delusional Noivern had said was true.

Glace was a fragment. She was a piece of a whole, and now she had one of the other pieces inside of her mind.

“Why? Why would you do this?”

Glace whispered. “Why did you merge with me?”

You saw the vision, you know why.

We have to stop the dimensions from collapsing on each other. The only way to do that is to become one again.

“But… why did you merge with me?

Why didn’t you absorb me into you?

You can do that, can’t you?”

Well hypothetically yeah. I’d have to do some things I wouldn’t want to do… but I could. But I didn’t because you ruined my eye. If I absorbed you into me, then I’d have to go after the others like this. And if it went down like how it went with you,

then I’d probably end up getting killed.

And then we wouldn’t get anywhere.

But if you were the one to go find the others, then I wouldn’t have to worry about that. Like I said before, you’re good with fighting and you›re a Weavile, which makes it better. And maybe they›d feel less threatened by you since you›re smaller than me.

“So you merged with me because you want me to do your job.”

I wouldn’t call it that, but you can if you want. I can still help you, though. I might not have a body anymore, but I can still tell you what you need to know. I know what the others look like and what dimension they’re in. And I can help you get to those dimensions. I’ll help you all you want.

Because you really do believe me now, don’t you? You know that we have to find the others and become one.

Glace sighed. She tightened her claws into fists as she forced them to stop trembling and looked outside. She could still see the tear in the sky along with all the unsuspecting Pokémon still outside, completely oblivious to how much of a grim omen it was.

Glace, Sonata, and their other selves were the only ones who could stop the destruction that was soon to befall the entire multiverse.

Alright Sonata. Tell me where our first fragment is.

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Z A

G IN

A H E C H U T L W A N H MA M A

by

Firebrand

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CHAPTER 1 Someone screamed as the horde of vacant-eyed civilians advanced down Milton Boulevard. Several carried baseball bats or broken pipes, and they smashed the windows of any storefront they came across, grabbing anything shiny that they could carry. Those that were empty-handed simply pounded on the glass with their fists until the tide of bodies pressed them onward.

Many had bloody hands from reaching through the shattered glass, though they seemed oblivious to the pain.

Bringing up the rear of the column was a woman in a hooded sweatshirt with a group of Exeggutor, their leafy fronds glowing faintly in the flickering streetlights. She snapped her fingers at one man whose hands were laden with an assortment of diamond necklaces.

The man fell back a few paces, and the woman took his spoils and put them in a large nylon bag she carried over her shoulder.

A man stood on a rooftop some distance down the street, carefully

keeping to the shadows. He turned to the pokemon crouching next to him.

“Almost there. Just one more block.” He peered out and fiddled with a clasp near his armpit. “Okay, we got this. Yeah.”

The Hawlucha next to him rolled its shoulders and stretched. The man held up his gloved hand and counted down from three. “Ready, go!”

He and his Hawlucha sprinted from the shadows and leapt from the rooftop.

The Hawlucha spread his wings to catch an updraft before diving over the mob of stumbling people and angling for the Exeggutor in the back. The man pulled a ripcord on his red and white nylon suit, making the green cloth sails between his arms and torso unfurl and catch the wind. His descent slowed sharply as he caught the same updraft as his partner, and together they shot towards the ground.

Hawlucha struck first, crashing into two of the woman’s four Exeggutor before flapping back up into the air and angling his body to come around for a

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second pass. The man took advantage of the momentary chaos to drop out of the sky. He landed lightly on the balls of his feet and somersaulted to lessen the shock of impact on his joints. When he sprang up, he readjusted his lopsided mask and smirked at the stunned woman. “Whatever you’re doing to these people, you need to stop. I don’t want this to get ugly.”

“Well, because you asked so nicely…”

The woman unslung a coiled whip from her shoulder. “Honestly, has that ever worked?”

“No, but I figure it’s always worth a shot.” The masked man unclipped two stainless steel rods from his belt and twirled them in his hands. “People like you always want to do things the hard way.”

She snapped her whip at him, and the masked man dodged to the side. He stayed low to the ground as he ran at her, raising one of his batons to strike her wrist. The woman feinted out of the way and barked an order at one of her stunned Exeggutor. “Give me a hand here!” The grass type ambled forward and its fronds began to glow again, only for Hawlucha to drop out of the sky and attack it with a flurry of kicks and clawing talons. The Exeggutor stumbled back against a wall and toppled over as Hawlucha jumped back up to attack one of its fellows that was approaching the man from behind.

“Thanks buddy,” the man said as

he and the woman circled. “So what’s your gimmick, anyway? This seems a little too heavy handed for the average jewel heist.”

“You trying to get me to drop my guard, buddy?”

“Let’s call it professional curiosity.

You have an alias?”

The woman lashed out with her whip and managed to catch the man’s arm.

With a yank, she dragged him closer and pulled him to his knees. “You can call me the Soothsayer, if you’ve got to call me anything.” She kicked him in the stomach, making him drop his batons.

“And you’re going to regret sticking your nose in my business.” She kicked one of the rods away and used her free hand to pick up the other one.

“You ought to be honored,” the masked man said. “You can tell all of your new friends in the cellblock that your plot was thwarted by none other than the amazing Hawlucha Man!” “Never heard of you, kid.”

“You will. Now, buddy!”

The Hawlucha shrieked and dove straight at the last standing Exeggutor, its body becoming cloaked in a brilliant white light. The flying type crashed into the squat body of the Exeggutor and lifted it off its feet, knocking it through the air and sending it flying towards the Soothsayer. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Hawlucha Man jerked his arm down and pulled

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the Soothsayer off balance. As she stumbled, the Exeggutor sailed by over her head and crashed down behind the mob some ways distant. Hawlucha Man jumped to his feet and delivered a punch to the side of the woman’s face, making her gasp and drop the whip.

“You son of a bitch!” she screamed, rushing in with his baton. Hawlucha Man grabbed his remaining rod and brought it up just in time to block her telegraphed overhead strike.

He delivered another punch to the Soothsayer’s abdomen, knocking the wind from her lungs. As she sucked in another breath, she cringed. “You want to call yourself a hero like Blaziken Man, but you’d beat up a girl?”

“In my defense, you do kind of have it coming.”

When the Soothsayer came at him again, he grabbed her wrist and contorted his body in such a way as to use the force of her own attack against her. He stopped just short of making the Soothsayer faceplant into the pavement, instead putting her in a headlock and applying pressure to her carotid artery. “Nice and easy now,” he muttered in her ear. “Just go to sleep.” The Soothsayer passed out, and Hawlucha Man set her down next to a lamp post before handcuffing her to it. Hawlucha landed next to him and cocked his head. Hawlucha Man reached down and scratched the feathers on his partner’s head. “All according to plan, more or less.”

Hawlucha huffed in what passed as laughter, and they waited for the police to arrive.

It didn’t take long, though preventing the mob from continuing down Milton was taking most of the Eleventh Precinct’s resources and manpower.

Simply taking out the Exeggutor behind the mind control had not been enough to dispel the mind control like Hawlucha Man had hoped. But that wasn’t really his department, and the police were better equipped to deal with it than him. Nothing to do now but wait.

Hawlucha Man sat down on a stoop and began massaging a cramp from his leg, and had just about worked through it when a police cruiser turned off one of the narrower side streets and onto the main boulevard. He squinted his eyes against the flashing blue lights as the cruiser pulled up to the curb in front of him. The driver and passenger side doors opened, and Hawlucha Man pulled himself to his feet. “Nice to see you again, Captain. Detective.”

Captain Anderson rolled his eyes as he opened the rear door of the cruiser to let his Houndoom out. Detective Reyes inclined his head towards Hawlucha Man. “Nice work. You cleaned this one up faster than I thought.”

The Houndoom ambled over to Hawlucha Man, and he knelt down to scratch the police dog’s neck. “Hey Oscar. How’re you today? Are you being

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a good boy? Yes you are.” Oscar’s mouth lolled in a canine grin, and Hawlucha Man patted his head before turning to the detective. “Speedy service with a smile, that’s my motto. What’s got the captain’s feathers ruffled?”

“He lost the betting pool.”

“Betting pool?

“He thought it would take you half an hour from contact to bring this one in. I bet fifteen minutes.” Reyes smiled wider. “So coffee and donuts are on the captain next week.”

Hawlucha Man clapped the detective on his shoulder. “At least I know one person in the Eleventh has some faith in my awesome skills.”

Anderson knelt down next to the Soothsayer and pulled back her hood.

“Meg Kingsley, like we thought,” he muttered.

“She in the system?”

“Dropped out of a biochemistry program a few years ago,” Anderson replied. “We’ve brought her in for a few petty thefts and she made a plea bargain to get off easy. She informed on some of Wrath’s boys about some aerosol weapon they wanted her to make.”

He went to remove her handcuff and chuckled. He undid the cuffs and held them up for Reyes to see. The detective laughed as Hawlucha Man turned a Tamato berry red beneath his hood.

The captain jangled the fuzzy Liepard print cuffs and fought hard to keep a

stoic façade. “You going to be wanting these back, Hawlucha Man?” “Hey, guys, listen, they’re not mine, I swear…”

“No, of course they’re not,” Reyes said.

“Look, there was a girl… and she was kind of into… all of that that. I had to make do with the resources at hand, alright?”

Anderson put the still catatonic Soothsayer in the back of his cruiser and unhooked his own handcuffs from his belt. “Listen, kid, take these. You do good work for us. I’ll, uh, keep this one quiet for you.” He shook the fuzzy handcuffs. “Unless you really want to hang on to this pair?”

Hawlucha snatched the handcuffs. “Oh Arceus, no.”

police

Anderson tossed them into a nearby garbage can. “Well, that never happened, as far as I’m concerned.

Reyes, on the other hand, might have noticed a thing or two…”

Hawlucha Man turned to the detective. “If you say anything you’re dead to me.”

Before Reyes could reply, his phone went off. The detective answered and asked a few brusque questions before hanging up. “Sir, we better let the CSU guys handle the rest of clean up here.”

He showed Anderson a picture on his phone. “The Ronin dropped off a body for us.”

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Anderson scowled. “Who is it this time?”

“Hard to say, he didn’t leave the head or the hands, so no dental and no fingerprints. But the body type matches that rapist with a good lawyer from a couple months back. First responders found a good amount of blood, so we might be able to run some tests at the lab.”

“The bastard may have gotten past the judge and the jury, but the executioner caught up with him,” Anderson muttered. “All right Reyes, see if you can get anything else while I finish up here.” Reyes nodded and walked a little ways down the street, talking into his phone. Anderson looked at the four fainted Exeggutor and ran a hand through his thinning hair. “I’ll get some guys from the PPS down here for the Exeggutor, I guess. We’ve got it from here, kid. Why don’t you take off?”

“What about the people under mind control?”

“Seems like Miss Kingsley here used some kind of spores to get people riled up and then hijacked them with her pokemon. With the psychic control gone, my boys are getting the people to calm down. We can handle it.” Anderson glanced at Hawlucha Man. “You know the Eleventh exists for a reason, right?

You can leave some of our job for us to do. Blaziken Man didn’t get where he did overnight.”

Hawlucha Man shrugged. “I gotta stay on my toes. Avenbrooke isn’t like midtown, captain. We’ve only got two heroes for all the things that go bump in the night.”

“Calling the Ronin a hero may be a bit of a stretch, kid.”

“At least he only goes after the bad guys.”

“The Ronin went down a bad path.

You’ve still got time to go another way.” Anderson put a paternal hand on Hawlucha Man’s shoulder. “And I’m really hoping you do, kid. I’m not telling you to get out of the game, because I know you wouldn’t listen.

Just be careful, all right?”

“It takes a lot to bring Hawlucha Man down.”

“I’m sure.” Anderson sighed. “I have to go deal with this. You get on home, kid.”

Hawlucha Man tapped two fingers to his forehead and gave a lazy salute.

“See you the next time things start to bump in the night, cap’n.”

“I can count on it, can’t I?” “Damn right.”

Anderson held the door to the backseat open for Oscar as Reyes came back up the street. He turned to the captain. “We’re pretty sure it’s our guy. When we brought him in, he had a tattoo on his left bicep. There’s a pretty bad acid burn right where the tattoo ought to be. We’re collecting some

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blood from the site for a DNA test, but it’ll probably match up. Still, we better put in an appearance. This one’s pretty ugly.”

When the cruiser drove off, Hawlucha Man turned to his partner and clicked his tongue. Hawlucha, perched atop a stone Pyroar, looked up from his preening and cocked his head to the side. Hawlucha Man sighed. “You’ve been smoothing your feathers for ten minutes. I think you’re done. Let’s get out of here.”

Hawlucha jumped down and followed Hawlucha Man down a dark side alley between two old brick apartment buildings. When they were sufficiently out of sight from the street, Hawlucha jumped up and grabbed a fire escape ladder, dragging it down with his body weight. The two of them quickly ran up to the tenement rooftop, sprinted to the edge of the building and jumped out across the gap between buildings. They traversed a block’s worth of rooftops this way until they reached a building sufficiently tall enough to glide from.

As they prepared to take flight, Hawlucha Man held up a gloved hand and pointed out across the rooftops to the west where across the river, the skyscrapers of midtown Clarus City rose up against the night sky, their bright lights blotting out the stars.

The sweeping towers and illuminated suspension cables of the Concord Bridge and, further down the dark scar of the

Umber River, the brutalist bulwark of the Forbes Bridge connected the boroughs of Avenbrooke and Greenpoint respectively to the sprawling metropolis. Far on the other side of the city, the Crown Bridge spanned the West River to Ridgewood and Lenox Hills.

Hawlucha Man rocked back on his heels and sighed. Laid out below his feet, was Avenbrooke, his stomping grounds, his protectorate. His home.

“I never get tired of looking at this, buddy. This is what we’re fighting for.”

Hawlucha rolled his eyes. He had heard this speech enough times. “We’re doing this to keep all those lights burning.

There are a lot of people who want to put them out and do Arceus knows what in the shadows. But we’re not going to let them.” Hawlucha Man balanced on the edge of the roof, his arms spread wide.

“You just watch!” he shouted towards the shining city. “Avenbrooke is under my protection, and I won’t stop until every last son of a bitch knows that if they want to make trouble in my town, they’re going to have to deal with the amazing Hawlucha Man!” He jumped out into the open air and pulled the cord on his wingsuit. Hawlucha sprang off the roof just behind him, and together they angled towards another building several streets away. After a series of short, looping flights, they came to rest on the roof of a small apartment building on a narrow street.

THE UNDERGROUND

Hawlucha Man removed his mask and hood and stuffed them in a small duffel bag near the rooftop access door.

He shrugged on a battered leather jacket and stuck a pen behind his ear while he fished out a textbook and two notebooks. He turned to his partner and held out his fist. Hawlucha bumped it with his closed talons. “We did good tonight, Hierro,” Hawlucha Man said.

“Our first supervillain. To many more!”

His Hawlucha raised his fist in agreement. Hawlucha Man fumbled around in the duffel bag for his key and unlocked the rooftop door. He and Hierro quietly made their way down the stairs, and Hawlucha Man opened the door to a small apartment. Hierro sprang across the room and perched on the back of the only chair and immediately began to preen.

“Alex, is that you?” someone asked from down the hall. “What are you doing out so late?” A woman on the far side of middle age poked her head out her door.

Alex turned to her and grinned sheepishly, showing her the textbook in his hand. “Sorry to disturb you, Ms. Eliot. I was out on the roof finishing up some homework. The fresh air, you know?”

“Just don’t go catching a cold,” Ms. Eliot chided. “And be careful! The TV was saying that there was a commotion over on Milton.”

Alex raised his eyebrow. “Really?

Nothing serious, I hope?”

“Well, the police got it under control,” she said. “But honestly, the state the city is in nowadays. All those criminals, and the vigilantes are little better.”

“I know, it’s crazy. I should be getting to bed, Ms. Eliot.”

“Oh, yes, don’t let me keep you.”

When she closed her door, Alex let out a breath, grateful she hadn’t picked up on his white spandex pants. His landlady generally had his best intentions at heart, but she was terribly nosy. He locked his door, dropped his duffel bag and books and collapsed on the couch.

Dimi, his Skitty, immediately pounced on his chest and Alex scratched him behind the ears. He had meant to wash out the dishes in the sink before falling asleep, but far be it from him to try to move Dimi once the cat had made up his mind to stay somewhere. Besides, he was too exhausted to get up again.

Alex checked that the alarm on his phone was set before relaxing against the couch cushions and closing his eyes. If he didn’t get to sleep now, he would probably wind up dozing in one of his lectures tomorrow. Sometimes he envied the other people in his program who only had to worry about finishing their assignments on time and taking good notes in lectures. The double life of a masked vigilante wasn’t an easy one, but the Ronin couldn’t clean up the streets of Avenbrooke on his own.

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Or at least, he couldn’t without leaving a rather grisly mess.

And so, by day, Alex Alvarez was just another beleaguered engineering grad student, but by night he and Hierro became Hawlucha Man and his daring partner, sworn to keep the streets of Avenbrooke safe.

“Good night, buddy,” Alex said.

Hierro chirped back, and Alex sank into unconsciousness.

THE UNDERGROUND

RABBIT WARREN. THAT WAS WHAT THIS kind of city felt like. All tall buildings and dark alleys—winding, twisting paths lined with brick and glass. Deep shadows, cast in part by the dull gray of the sprawling rain clouds overhead, filled spaces between apartments and offices. Murky, brown puddles sat stagnant on streets and sidewalks, and the air felt heavy yet cold and wet.

Brown. A flash of brown tore through the maze of streets, feet splashing into muddy puddles haphazardly. He took twists and turns whenever he could in his mad dash to anywhere-buthere. Every so often, he glanced back, his brown eyes wide and panicked.

His arms wrapped tighter and tighter around his silver briefcase whenever he caught a glimpse of something other than brick and glass and fog.

Black. Streaks of black darted into and out of alleys and vaulted off rooftops. The streak on the ground wore a wide smile and aqua braids.

The one in the air wore nothing but darkness.

Laughter. The woman with aqua braids cackled despite the run, despite the cold and the effort she put into keeping a steady distance behind her quarry. She was gaining on him. He knew.

Turn. Three turns—one left and two right—carried him deeper and deeper into the maze. Each one separated him from Aqua Braids, but he knew that no matter how many turns he took, he had to keep going. She was still behind him.

A voice.

“Run all you want, you obsolete piece of trash! You can’t shake us!”

Aqua Braids shouted.

Brick. He stopped abruptly, staring at the wall directly in front of him.

Swiveling around, he backed up until his body pressed against it. No doors.

No windows. No escape. He glanced up to see the black figure perched on the edge of the high rise to his left.

He glanced forward to see the woman with aqua braids rounding a corner and blocking him in. His arms tightened around the case a little more.

“That was fun, but I’m tired of running now,” the girl said as she strolled forward. She extended a hand to him. “Hand the case over, or this is gonna be painful.”

As if to punctuate that thought, the figure on the roof jumped down.

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ELECTRIC SHEEP by

JX Valentine

THE UNDERGROUND

CHAPTER ONE: NUVEMA

It was raining. Not hard, of course.

Softly—the kind of rain that fell as a thin mist, the kind that clung to a person and sank into their bones. It was a gray rain on Nuvema City, and the puddles were shallow beneath the twisting vines and trees that crowded around the walls of colored glass. On the streets of Nuvema, people bustled from building to building, umbrellas formed a colored forest beneath the canopies formed by the trees planted in every spare corner of the city, pokémon—mostly lillipup and other dog-like monsters—ran alongside humans on jeweled leashes, and somewhere just above the canopy of umbrellas, a phone rang.

Its owner sat on the edge of a brick wall, one chubby leg dangling over its side. She shoved her pale hands into the pockets of her brown, fleece hoodie, and she bent her face low so the rain

would fall onto her clothing instead of her round features. In the pocket of her hoodie, her holo caster buzzed and sang, and when her ringtone looped for the second time, she groaned and pulled the device out. Using one hand to shield the thin, palm-sized piece of glass, she squinted at the screen to read the name: Dad. “Not this again,” she muttered.

This was fifteen-year-old Doreen Hornbeam, better known to her friends as Door. Like many of her peers, she was old enough to go on her own journey, but unlike many of her peers, she chose not to go at ten years of age. She had her reasons. Many reasons, but mostly, they involved the fact that she knew that almost all of the pokémon on the street weren’t real. None of the ones in the region were real—or, at least, very few of them were. After decades of

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human development, there just wasn’t enough space for them anymore, and that was why the Unovan government, inspired by the gardens of Kalos, started experimenting with green programs and eco-friendly urban development five years ago. That was why there was a fledgling forest in every space of Nuvema City now. That was why the government was developing fauna reintroduction programs. And most importantly, that was why all trainers were restricted to a set track, on which they could only catch and train android pokémon. It was all fake, all for show, all to placate the people.

And Door would have exactly none of that.

Just as she was highly reluctant to have whatever it was her father was going to dump on her this time.

Tapping the glass, she held the holo caster out and let a miniature image of her father materialize before her. She gave it the most bored expression she could muster, knowing full well that her father would be unlikely to notice.

“Door!” he exclaimed. “Door, where are you?”

“Running errands for Professor Ironwood.

I’m working today, remember?” she answered.

It was a blatant lie. The errands part, at least. Door did have to work that day, but Professor Ironwood hardly noticed the absences of her assistant’s assistant.

Still, on occasion, the excuse made her father get off the line quicker than he would normally … but unfortunately, this was not one of those times.

Fortunately, however, it was one of those times when her father didn’t care about her work schedule to begin with.

“Well, tell Bianca I need you back home ASAP,” he said. “It’s superimportant, pumpkaboo! I’ve figured it out!”

Without another word, his image blinked out of existence, and the glass dimmed. Door screwed her face up in frustration and tapped on the glass. It flared to life, presenting her with a list of her recent calls, and she had half a mind to call her father back and tell him off. But she didn’t. Instead, she shoved the holo caster back into her pocket and hopped off the brick wall. She hit the ground with both feet, and the wetness of the puddle she had landed in seeped through her gray sneakers. With a curse, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her cargo pants and started for home.

The truth was that Door didn’t mind Nuvema City. Nine years had passed since she moved from Hoenn, and because of that, she had only vague memories of what it was like living halfway across the world. But the few parts of it she could remember made her restless: the sun, the smell of fresh-cut grass, real pokémon flying overhead.

Unova wasn’t as dirty as it had been

THE UNDERGROUND

five years ago, but it didn’t feel right.

She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she felt like she didn’t belong there— like she was meant to do something else and be somewhere else. And that nagging feeling grew into a thirst for adventure, which in turn grew into a need to go on a journey.

But it wouldn’t be the same. That was the problem. It would never be the same because everywhere one went in Unova, there were barriers, artificial forests, fake pokémon. All of it was just pretend—one giant theme park for the self-proclaimed eco-friendly hipsters and rich kids to indulge in. And maybe Door was a little self-righteous about that; even she admitted that she might be. But the idea of giving in and going on a journey through an amusement park? To her, it wouldn’t be a journey.

Never mind the nanny. As Door rounded the corner and let that thought sink in, she shuddered. The pokémon and the routes weren’t the only things that were fake in that region. Looking up at the crowds, she understood she wouldn’t be able to spot them at first glance. But she knew they were there.

She knew because the things she dreaded were exactly what put food on the table for her family. They were why her mother was in Castelia City, hammering out details for a new operating system.

And besides the Pokémon Bank and Hoenn storage system, they were why anyone knew her family at all.

They were the Companions. Androids, to be precise. Designed to look human in almost every way—even act like them, in the newer models’ cases. Rumor had it that one in five people owned one, and Door knew that at least in Nuvema City, hotbed of trainer activity, that rumor might as well have been true. Everyone who wanted to be a trainer had to have a Companion, not by law but by practice. The safe zones, the crime-free routes between cities where artificial pokémon “lived,” were far, far easier to navigate with a Companion’s builtin map system. Besides, Companions were equipped with a whole range of bells and whistles that made life easier for a trainer.

Or, in Door’s opinion, they were equipped with a range of bells and whistles that kept trainers reined in at all times. After all, the other function a Companion had was to enforce those physical boundaries the League set on each route by way of offering helpful advice and strong coaxing. They were electric babysitters, in other words.

To top it all off, the latest models of Companion were virtually indistinguishable from their human users except in one minor detail: their eyes. The irises were all wrong.

Reflective sometimes. Glowing at others. And obviously glass and metal upon closer inspection. But unless one stood close to a Companion, even that detail was difficult to spot. And that was the problem. How could a person

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trust someone if they didn’t even know whether or not that someone was real?

So, looking at the countless people on the streets, Door squinted at the people she passed. Which were real? Which were fake? She knew that it shouldn’t have mattered, but it bothered her to no end. Just the thought of someone— something—staring at her, recording her, storing her image in some kind of internal database … it sent shivers up her spine.

Because of that, she did what anyone in her situation would do: she took the next right into a warren of emptier side streets.

Door stuffed her hands deeper into her pockets and fixed her eyes straight ahead. There were, as she had hoped, fewer people on the streets she took.

Fewer people to look at. Fewer people to play guessing games with. Sighing, Door pulled out the flat pane of glass again. Her thumb poked at a few options, searching for some music or a distraction, but before she could choose one, a cry caught her attention.

Looking up, Door stopped. By that point, she had wandered into a deserted alley, but the scream didn’t come from there. There was no one around her to be its source. She listened carefully, straining her ears over the light patter of rain to catch any hint of where the noise came from.

And then, she got it. Another cry to her left, followed by a pair of shouts.

Without thinking, she turned and bolted down another alley, following the voices through narrow side streets.

It was a stupid idea, considering she had nothing to defend herself with, but she was running on instinct by that point. That first voice sounded pained, as if it was coming from someone in trouble, and Door would be damned if she was about to let some innocent person go without help.

The moment she rounded the last corner, Door was almost run over by two figures. Slamming herself against the wall in an awkward dodge, Door looked up to see their backs. One was a young woman with twin aqua braids flowing behind her. With each step, this woman slammed her black military boots into the pavement, and her slender arms swung a heavy-looking silver briefcase at her side. Running beside her was a taller, broader figure—a man, Door guessed—in a black trench coat.

She didn’t have much time to think about the two figures because in the next second, a third, this time brown and frazzled, rushed past her.

“Stop!” the third one cried. Another man, judging by the depth of his voice.

“Please, stop!”

The victim. Door recognized his voice, and once she realized who the man in brown was, she pushed off the brick wall and darted after him.

Although Door was by no means outof-shape thanks to months of working

THE UNDERGROUND

for Professor Ironwood’s assistant, it was still tough work catching up with all three figures, and because of that, for the first five minutes, she merely trailed behind them as they dove deeper into the warren of alleys and side streets until at last, she was able to choke out her first few words to the victim.

“H-hey! Hey!” she called.

He stumbled slightly, throwing a glance over his shoulder. “Sorry! I can’t stop!”

“Need help?!” she asked.

She wasn’t expecting him to say yes, and in fact, rather than answer her, he turned his gaze away and picked up speed. However, a few steps later, one of his hands lashed out to grab the lid of a nearby trashcan, and he skidded to a stop, twisted his body, and threw the lid like a disc. With a crack, the lid cut through the air and smashed into the back of the girl’s legs, sending her tumbling into the pavement. The case she carried crashed into the road, and with the force of impact, it burst open to send three orbs sailing through the air.

None of them struck the ground right away. Instead, they split and filled the alley with light.

When the light cleared, three tiny figures stood between the man and the couple. One was a green, snake-like creature; another was a squat, red pig; and the third was a bulbous, blue-andwhite otter. Door recognized all three right away. She had, after all, spent

enough time in Professor Ironwood’s lab to know how to spot starter pokémon when she saw them.

The man whirled around to face her, and soon, she found herself staring into his wide, brown eyes.

“Help me grab the Quickly!” he shouted.

poké

balls!

She nodded and lunged for the nearest orb, one that had rolled within a few feet of her reach. As soon as her hand clasped around it, the otter swiveled around and trilled, as if to encourage her to keep going. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the man move quickly to grab the second ball, but before he could reach the third, the taller figure in black kicked him squarely in the chest. The second orb arced out of the man’s hand and clattered to the ground as he went sailing into the trash cans behind him.

The figure in black had come out of nowhere, but Door should have seen him coming. She even kicked herself a little because she didn’t. It was as if one moment, she and her new partner were scrambling for the poké balls, and the next, the giant in black chose that exact moment to remind them that he was still there. As soon as the man in brown had been kicked out of the way, the figure in black reached down to grab the second orb. Then the third.

He straightened, turning a blank glare towards Door, and she realized at once that she wasn’t looking at a human.

-0103

It was that lack of expression, that uncanny likeness that looked too plastic to be real, the way his eyes glinted that told her the truth.

This man was a Companion.

Wordlessly, he held up the balls and let them fall open in his massive hands.

Red light engulfed the tepig and snivy, and within seconds, they both vanished into their respective orbs. After passing one of them to the woman with aqua braids—whose icy glare told Door she was perfectly human—he moved his hand until he held it palm up to Door.

“The poké ball,” he droned.

Door took a step back, lifting her eyes to see the man’s face far above her. His eyes were dark and glowing with an internal light. His face was square and set in a way that made it look like it was wired together with metal. His mouth, molded into a neutral expression.

Everything about him seemed towering and cold and wrong. Yet Door held the ball to her chest, suddenly unable to find the bravado she felt a moment ago.

“The poké ball,” he repeated in the exact same tone he had used the first time around.

Still, she said nothing.

The Companion slowly turned his hand until it was palm side down. Then, he lifted his arm, reaching not for Door’s wrists but instead her head. She took another step back and cringed.

And then, a blue and white blur slammed into the man’s shoulder. Door

blinked, and the blur resolved, flipping itself backwards as it sailed back to the ground. The oshawott barked, bared its fangs in a jagged snarl, and launched itself once more at the thieves, this time particularly at the girl with aqua braids. Her eyes widened, and half of a curse escaped her lips just before the oshawott smashed into her stomach and sent her crashing down onto her back. As the ball the thief held slipped from her fingers, Door reached out to snatch it without a second thought. But the second she did, her ankle caught on something, and her body spilled onto the road. Looking up, she caught sight of the woman lying on her side, with one hand wrapped tightly around Door’s foot. In response, Door screamed and lashed out, kicking at the woman desperately.

“You think you’re clever,” the woman growled as she snatched Door’s other foot. Then, she pushed herself onto her knees. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with, do y—” “Oshawott, Tackle!” Door shrieked.

Truth be told, had Door been in her right mindset, she probably would have come up with a better plan than ordering a pokémon that wasn’t even hers to attack one of two bandits from behind. Yet somehow, it worked. One moment, she was staring wide-eyed at the woman, and the next, the otter slammed its entire body into the back of the thief’s head and landed gracefully

by Door’s side. The woman’s violet

THE UNDERGROUND

eyes rolled back into her skull, and her grip on Door’s feet slackened. Finally, her entire body gave way, slumping over sideways onto the ground.

For a long while, everything was quiet. But then, the man in black looked down at his partner.

“Belle deemed incapacitated,” he rumbled. “Mission incomplete.

Aborting.”

He reached down and plucked the woman from the ground with the hand that was not holding one of the poké balls. With rigid movements, he rose, turned, and began marching towards the mouth of the alley. Door struggled to her knees, turning her wide eyes to the Companion.

“H-hey! Drop that ball!” She flicked a glance towards the pokémon beside her. “Oshawott! Stop him!”

side of the alley and then the wall on the other until he mounted one of their roofs. Within moments, he was gone, vanishing above the edge of the rooftop. As she watched the Companion go, Door tensed, balling her hands into fists. There was no way she would be able to catch up with that—not with her human legs and human limitations.

Anger burned within her until a soft cry made her look down. At her feet, the otter held aloft one of the poké balls.

“Hey,” she said quietly. She stooped down and laid a heavy hand on Oshawott’s slick-furred head. “Good job, kid.”

The oshawott trilled its name once again and pressed the ball into Door’s leg. She picked it up, testing its weight, only to notice a tiny flame icon on the red hemisphere.

“That’s Tepig’s.”

It nodded and barked once, then readied itself for another Tackle. In the next second, it pitched itself at the man, throwing its entire body at his back. The Companion turned, staring blankly at Door as Oshawott bounced off his chest harmlessly. As soon as Oshawott landed, the man turned back to the street.

Door swiveled her head up to see the man in brown. He sighed, ran his fingers through his wavy, brown hair, and crouched down to kneel beside Door. Holding out his other hand, he showed her the other poké ball the thieves had missed: one with an icon of a water droplet etched onto its surface.

“You are not ready,” he intoned. “Do not follow.”

“This is Oshawott’s,” he said. “Keep it, but I’ll need Tepig back.”

He crouched, craned his face to the sky, and did one thing Door wasn’t expecting at all from a Companion: leapt. His feet bounced back and forth, connecting with the brick wall on one

Door hastily traded one poké ball for another, and as soon as Oshawott’s ball was in her hand, she felt the otter nuzzle her side.

“Thanks for your help,” the man

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said. “One chosen and another stolen.

This isn’t good.”

She blinked at him. “Hey, if you need Oshawott back—” He shook his head. “No. That’s all right. He looks like he likes you.”

He. The otter had a gender. Looking down, Door examined Oshawott. Her palm stroked its back, feeling his silky fur beneath her skin. The pokémon certainly looked real, but she knew he had to be fake. He was too younglooking, and no real starter had been born in Unova since … well, she didn’t know how long it had been. She just knew they were gone. So whoever designed this one must have been a master.

“Yeah,” she said slowly, “but … I’m not a trainer. You can have him back.”

“Not a trainer?”

Door looked back to see that the stranger’s eyebrows were raised.

“Y-yeah,” she stammered. “I know.

It’s weird, but I’m not! Honest! So, look, take him back.” She shoved the ball into the man’s hand. “Sorry I couldn’t get Snivy back too. Do you need help finding the police station or something?”

He shook his head again. “No. No, that won’t be necessary.”

Pushing his hands against his knees, he stood and dusted himself off.

“Oh.” Door rose to her feet as well

and shoved her hands back into her pockets. “I guess you’re not from around here. Dunno which town you’re from, but Nuvema’s actually got a decent police force. You sure you don’t want to talk to a Jenny?”

“No, I just mean I’ll be fine,” he said. His voice sounded distant, and because of that, Door didn’t take it as an insult. “But I would appreciate it if you guided me to Professor Ironwood’s laboratory.”

At that, Door felt her blood chill.

“Uh. Professor Ironwood?”

He gave her a sideways glance. “Yes. I was on my way to delivering those starters to her when I was robbed.

She’s the leading authority on pokémon research in this region, isn’t she?”

“Y-yeah,” Door stuttered. Her eyes drifted from the stranger, and her thoughts were occupied completely on the job she wasn’t at right at that moment.

“Oh,” the man said. “I’m terribly sorry. This city is big. I shouldn’t have expected you to know—” “You … you just want to be led to her door, right?” Door said.

“Yes,” he replied slowly.

“Just to her door?”

“Yes…?”

Door breathed a sigh of relief and extended her hand. “Fine. I can take you there. I’m Door, by the way.”

THE UNDERGROUND

“Door.” The man smiled and grasped her outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Geist.”

Shaking his hand vigorously, she gave him the most confident forced smile she could muster. “Right! Good to meet you! Now let’s go! Just to Professor Ironwood’s door!”

Whipping around, she broke contact with Geist and began marching forward.

Because of that, she couldn’t see the curious expression on his face.

“Uh, Door?” he asked.

“Yeah, Geist?” she responded.

“There isn’t anything I should … know about Professor Ironwood, is there?”

“Nope!” Door answered.

“Are you sure? You seem to be—” “Nope!” She flashed a wide grin over her shoulder. “Professor Ironwood would in no way be pissed off at me for any reason whatsoever! She and I are on absolutely great terms!”

He stood there, staring at her with a strange expression, just long enough for Oshawott to climb up to his shoulder.

Door, meanwhile, whirled back around and marched the rest of the way out of the alley.

“Come on, guys! Lots o’ walkin’ to do! Lots. O’. Walkin’!”

And as Geist followed her, Door continued to smile, going over her plan again and again in her head. She would

drop off Geist at the gate and run. No questions. No lectures. Just run.

Of course, this would have been a perfect plan, if her boss wasn’t waiting for her at the gate.

Thus, a half an hour later, Doreen Hornbeam’s journey began with her almost getting fired.

-0107

Credits: The text provided in this issue of The Underground are courtesy their respective owners, 2018.

Pokémon and all related entities are registered trademarks and intellectual property of Nintendo, Game Freak, and The Pokémon Company International.

Pokémon © Nintendo, Game Freak 1995–2018.

Use of canon material throughout this issue is done so according to fair use.

For more information, please visit www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html.

Wallpaper textures used for Foul Play (pages 54 and 67) are courtesy of homedepot.com and lostandtaken.com.

Circuitry texture used for Electric Sheep (pages 96–98) was designed by Kotkoa / Freepik. For more information, please visit www.freepik.com.

All other art used in this issue was courtesy of Bulbagarden; for more information, please visit archives.bulbagarden.net.

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Thank you for reading!