ITT: We are all Pokémon Trainers

Silas turned the cutter’s vent sideways and watched as the cutter beam flew through another ditto, this one having taken on a more grotesque blended shape. Khan froze it with an ice beam before Oliver kicked it away.

<Mutant dittos… how did they even get up here?> Oliver asked.

<Perhaps they got teleported up here, or maybe were snuck up into a supply vessel. This station while impressive is far from self sufficient correct?> Khan responded.

“Doesn’t matter how they got on, what matters is getting them off,” Silas responded.

The trio entered into the central chamber and looked at the power supply, a large fusion reactor at the center, Asimov had become a primary supplier of the toroidal design that was being used so widely now. Only made sense that a place this big would need one.

Silas dropped down and looked it over. “Minor damage, we can get repairs going here and get the power up. Khan there should be a backup switch, see if you can get us on battery power and then we can get Solar panels going as well.”

Khan nodded and bit onto a large lever, pulling it down. There was a shuttering noise as the lights in the area picked up. Silas already working on the reactor, he tossed out two more pokeballs and let Byleth and Conroy out.

Conroy stretched, was about to ask what was up, and then saw the large toroid. <Oh… science stuff.>

“I’m going to be busy working on this. I need some cover for the time being, we’re faced with mutant dittos who have vaster shapeshifting abilities than normal.”

<Is that all??> Conroy said, exasperated with this news.

As if on cue, a door hatch busted open, as a large pink mass oozed in, and formed several tendrils. Conroy in response started firing dragon pulses right at it, hating that he had volunteered for this.

Byleth kept close to Silas and began slicing through any mutant ooze daring to get close enough, Silas closed the breach and sealed the plating. There was a start, a fuel pellet was dropped in, and with a suddenly loud hum the room began to brighten. Byleth stepped back a bit, as a few bits of ditto ooze merged into one. <Got it working?>

Silas nodded and closed the console, before turning back to the growing mass of ditto. “Khan, we need another ice beam!”

Khan fired right into the hunk of ditto ooze and froze it solid. Silas nodded and started off. “Right, we have to get moving, security, special projects, and shipping. Those are our most likely points to find out what the hell happened.”

<You’re calm,> Byleth noted.

“I’m just used to the weirdness by now,” Silas said in response. “Let’s get moving, Security isn’t too far.”

<About that,> Khan responded. <The door is sealed, and I don’t think your force cutter is going to work here.>

Silas drifted over and looked at it. “Right… Okay… special projects then. With luck they’ll have the pieces I need.”

<Right, you heard ‘im! Let’s move!> Conroy shouted out.

Silas stepped into the lab and began digging through the projects. Oliver peered over his shoulder, as Byleth and Khan looked about the lab.

<Where is everyone?> Conroy asked.

Silas stopped, he hadn’t considered that. “We had seen Daniels earlier, he was stuck to a wall.”

<Yeah, but that was one person. We haven’t seen anyone else webbed up at all, what’s the total staff of the Persephone?>

“About 120, engineers and researchers work on this station constantly trying to prep it to be the next big touring spot. The habitat wheel works now.”

<1 person, out of 120? So point 833 of the staff have been found.>

Silas understood what Conroy meant intrinsically, a growing worry was forming at the back of his head now. He picked up the module and installed it into the left gauntlet, turning to a shuttering door and clicking his fingers. It slowed as a white glow enveloped it.

<The hell is that?> Khan asked.

“Stasis, time dilation of sorts through the effects of gravity, kind of like a hold. Doesn’t work so well on living things, they tend to break out far faster.”

<Sounds useful,> Khan noted. <What about the other thing?>

“Force cutter has a limited ammunition supply, I can’t make more, so I’m gonna need a bit more force, more precise force. Since none of you know psychic or telekinesis, I have to resort to other methods.”

<You should fix that,> Oliver said.

“That was the plan for Hacks, until he denied.”

<Coward,> Khan spat.

~We can hear you, you know. You’re on a live feed,~ came Hacks’s voice over the comms.

“Quite the series of events going on down there. You okay Silas? Your heart rate is going up,” Roxy said.

“I’m fine,” Silas responded, he drifted through the door and picked up the module inside. “Just a little concerned.”

“Silas, if you’re not certain about this, we can-”

“I have this, I can do this. Just concerned that there’s something more, mutant dittos is one thing. I’m just waiting for the big surprise of some giant monster, or ghost types.”

“Then take a break, grab what you need and find a place to rest. Deep breaths, you have this.”

He nodded and took a deep inhale. “Thanks, any reports on a safe spot?”

“One of the 0-G bunks isn’t too far off from special projects.”

“Thank you,” he said, attaching the last module to his right gauntlet. He exited the chamber and drifted over, raising his left hand to a welding torch from across the room. An electric blue glow enveloped it and it flew into Silas’s hand.

“Kinesis, obtained.”

<And just like that, you’re ready to fight the future,> Khan said with a grin.

Stormchaser, Y-squad room

Apple-A-Day: We beat one of the Templars!

Percy: Any assistance is appreciated.

Apple-A-Day: And you're welcome to stick around. It's nice having friends.

Stormchaser, Somewhere

Blair: ~Ugh. You're feeling guilty aren't you?~

Aislinn: -confused smile- "What are you talking about?"

Blair: ~It's been moooooonths. Why are you still thinking about that. Do you want me to bring you over and apologize or something? Is that it?~

Aislinn: "Still have no idea what you're talking about. Be more specific."

Blair: ~It's about your dear cousin Daydre isn't it? Your bad feelings are giving me a headache you know. We might as well talk about this now so it doesn't get worse.~

Aislinn: "Oh no. You are not playing guilt-trip therapist with me. We did enough of that when I was young."

Blair: ~Pleaaaaaaaasee? Just a little?~

Aislinn: "You're not getting a peep out of me."

Blair puts her palps under her chin and widens her soulless black eyes at Aislinn.

Aislinn: "..."

Blair: ~...~

Aislinn: "..."

Blair: ~...~

Aislinn: "OKAY. Fine. Just stop looking at me like that."

Blair: "HA! I win."

Aislinn: -sighing, massaging the bridge of her nose- "Yes, I do feel a little guilty about what I said months ago. Now that I've had time to think obviously I know it's not like she's responsible for anything that's happened in my life. But I still don't... Why were our lives so different? Is it really just because of the Oracle Mask? Would I be able to live my life more freely if I just.. Let go? But then what was the point of me doing all this until now?"

Blair mmhmms and writes some gibberish on a pad of paper she found somewhere.

Aislinn: "Tagg has proved capable of guarding it. But it wouldn't feel right just leaving that burden on him forever. I'd like to take it back, eventually, but how do I go about that? I just... don't know."

She looks down at her hand.

Aislinn: "What am I even doing with myself anymore?"

Aislinn: "...And it's not like I can just say anything about any of this to Daydre now, she's been acting weird ever since she came back from that raid."

She looks back up at Blair.

Aislinn: "Ugh, that did make me feel better. Curse you and your feelers."

Blair just giggles and gives her a shit-eating grin.

The hatch was opened, a bit forcefully with the Kinesis grip, Silas drifted in and landed, Oliver and Conroy following. Oliver swung his bow about, arrow at the ready. <Okay, security. What’s so important here?>

“Everyone has an ID tag that keeps track of their position on the Persephone, if we want to find where everyone went, we’ll need to use the security station.”

He typed away at the console, within a moment a representation of the station appeared. A ping swept over it and a large clump of reports appeared, habitat ring, scattered throughout. There they were, whatever had attacked the station held them all there.

“Getting this wing?”

“Roger that,” Roxy’s voice came in. “Bishop is running a flyby now.”

“I’ll begin making my way up there. The Ditto seem to have wisened up, I encountered no resistance on my way here.”

<Just means as we approach the habitat ring, we’ll find more of them,> Khan mumbled.

“I’d recommend getting the gravity working again Captain,” Bishop said.

“Roger, may be easier to face whatever is in there with gravity.”

Khan shook a bit. <The lack of gravity is… something. I haven’t exactly experienced this sensation.>

<You get used to it,> Oliver responded standing on the ceiling.

Byleth was trying his very best not to get sick. <Is the motion sickness typical?>

“Usually, don’t think about it too hard and you’ll be fine,” Silas said.

“We need to get you 0 G training!” Roxy’s voice responded over the radio.

Silas charted a path towards the Ring motor and closed the security terminal. He stood up and gripped the Force Cutter, he tapped his helmet and let the AR highlight kick in. Good, he had a station to save.

The Ring Rotor was a large empty space, Silas took a deep inhale as he approached the section. “Khan I’m gonna have to store you for now, we don’t have any spacesuits made for you.”

<Yet you have suits for everyone else?>

“Everyone else has more common designs, mon EVA suits follow the energy of lines.”

Oliver was already pulling on his, he gave Khan a wave as he pulled the helmet over. Byleth just stared at the outfit and then said. <Can I just ride in the ball.>

Silas nodded and recalled Byleth. “Fantasy series characters.”

<Says the man who lives and breathes Sci-fi,> Conroy responded.

Silas did not respond and radioed back to the Wing instead. “Wing, Mando-1 here, I’m about to enter the rotational unit for the habitat ring, as soon as that thing goes on the EM interference is gonna cut our contact, don’t panic if I vanish, I should report back in 5 once I exit the ring unit.”

“Roger that Captain, we’ll keep as close of an eye as we can,” Bishop responded.

~Be careful,~ came Hacks’s voice.

Silas opened the airlock, and with Conroy and Oliver, drifted into the vacuum. The Ring unit was by necessity a total vacuum, the electromagnetic rails that it spun on only worked with no air resistance to cut out friction. Out here was complete hostility to all life, ironically that made Silas feel safer.

The burn of his jetpack kept him focused, whatever was halting the ring had to be something that could be handled. Nobody was out here fixing it because they were all congealed in the habit ring, right?

He approached the main unit and opened it up. Spare tools stored in the door hatch in case of emergency, Oliver acted as a spare set of hands holding onto the toolset. Conroy sat against the metal plating. <Quite the sight isn’t it?>

“What is?”

<Just… the internal mechanisms needed to make the habitat ring spin. How much did this cost?>

“A lot,” Silas responded. “Enough that we’ve had several projects set back, we got lucky and it’s been in a lot of scientific news reports. My wedding was a bit of an advertising boon.”

<Oh right, you were annoyed about that,> Oliver said.

“I just wanted it to be some family, friends, and my coworkers… but Zeke raised a good point,” Silas said with a sigh, welding some severed wiring back together. “Asimov doesn’t have the manpower, we’ve got a few probes out in the Asteroid belt but no successful mining jobs, our Mars base has successfully gone underground, but the first Mars dome is projected to be finished in 50 years. Perhaps longer considering material costs and active hands.”

<And here you are, Mr. Scifi hero, practically being an Isaac Clarke here,> Conroy joked.

Silas didn’t say anything, and closed the panel. “Okay, got the major controls working, nothing else seems to be wrong, thermalgraph on my helmet reads all clear.”

He went to throw the lever, when he felt something tug around his leg. With a sudden jerk he was hauled away from the switch, he gripped the force cutter and looked down, a long tendril of ditto like ooze merged with muk material was wrapped around his leg. He fired at it, but it did nothing.

“Damn it!”

Oliver and Wayne were soon trailing behind him, Silas kicked his gravity boots into gear and let them direct his orientation down against the walls. He raised the Force Cutter and tried to aim, a large pulsing blob was in his sight. That had to be it.

Fire, fire, fire, miss all three times. The Force cutter battery ran empty, Silas ejected the spent battery and tried to grab another one, only for the tendril to shake and slam him against the wall. His body rocked, he was gonna need to spend some time in the medbay after this… if he survived this assault in the first place.

The mutant dittos were… aimless, just responding on instinct, Ziltoid had warned him of something like this. This however was directed, intelligent, something was leading it.

He raised the Force cutter, only for another slam into the wall to cause him to lose it, the tendril crawled up and pinned his left hand, no kinesis. Silas grimaced behind his helmet, only for ghostly chains to wrap around the tendril… followed by an arrow shot right through the pulsing bubble. It burst and what appeared to be a fiery wisp of ghosts flew out of it and down the tendril and into a maintenance shaft. Silas looked back as Oliver landed beside him, only to nock another arrow, swinging it about.

<You okay?>

“Got some bruising, beskar doesn’t stop kinetic force.”

Silas slowly stood on the side of the ring unit. Wayne followed over holding the Force Cutter in claw, Silas took it with a nod.

“Whatever is down here, it doesn’t want us getting into the gravity ring, or turning it back on.”

Battle Academy

<Yes, sorry about her> Lord says. <Chew has little to no volume control. On the bright side, I have been told that she is a good person to have at festivals.>

<SORRY!> Chew says, her voice being about a decibel lower than before.

At the table, Daria looks at Gabriella. "An exchange program? Oh man, a whole other school that I need to learn." She laughs nervously, then turns her attention to the bisque. It disappears in about a second.

Akala Island, Alola

Hoops steps off the boat onto the dock and takes several seconds to just breathe in and out while they adjust to the ground no longer swaying beneath their feet.

"I never want to do that again," they say.

<Might have to> Led says, flying forwards to be next to them. She has somehow already gotten hold of a tourism brochure. <We should really try and get some of these Malasadas while we're here.>

Hoops rolls their eyes. "We'll see if we have time. Remember, we're here to start the island challenge that we started."

<I know I know, but we might as well be tourists while we're here.>

She takes Hoops by the hand and takes them to explore the island.

Pokéstar Studios, Unova

Kec makes his way through the bustle of pokéstar studios. It seems like everywhere he looks there is something that could catch his interest: people in costumes, workers carrying around large props, famous actors that he has to stop himself from running to... Zack Nolan. The latter sees him across the street and rapidly turns to walk in the same direction.

With a lot of trial and error, Kec finally finds the office that he was told to come to. He steps through the door and find a rather small office with a couple of desks crammed into it, as well as a few dozen stacks of papers that look to be unsorted.

<Katya?> he calls.

Something sits up under the desk and makes a thumping noise, followed by an ow. Kec watches as Katya extracts herself from under the desk and looks at him. She looks rather dishevelled, as though she has been sleeping here, which he suspects she might have been. He gets a sudden stab of trepidation.

She smiles. "Kec! You made it."

<I did> he says. <Ready to get to work!>

She smiles. "Well, I'll be glad to have you. First of all, we need to fill out all of this paperwork to make sure we're recognised as an official union. Then we need to start recruiting members, because no-one knows that we exist yet. Then at some point we need to make enough money to not sleep in the office."

Kec takes a deep breath. <That's a lot to do.>

"Yeah. You didn't think it would be easy, did you?"

<Hey, I basically raised a child. After that, nothing's too much work. I say let's get to it.>

Snowpoint City, Sinnoh

Xaster stumbles into town, looking like a snowman due to how much he's been completely plastered with snow. He didn't know why he had thought it would be a good idea to take a detour on the way here, but he had, and now he could barely stand after over a week in the snowy wilderness.

At least the results of his training would hopefully show, he thought, sitting down to dinner in a local hotel. "Come out, everyone." In addition to how his team was before, ToTo and ChiChi have evolved into Togetic and Chimecho, respectively. He serves everyone large bowls of food for the evening.

"We'll take on the gym tomorrow, guys," he says. "Until then, we get plenty of rest. We've all earned it."

Outside The Veilstone City Gym:

Upon hearing Owen's insistence on fossil hunting, Mark would reply, “I'm fine with whatever as long as we make the deadline. Will probably have to compromise searching somewhere not too far along the way, but if we start cutting it close and still find nothing I'm not going to risk it,”. While Owen would summon the rest of his team, Travis would focus on browsing his mobile with the aid of Haxx and open the world map to plot the best path towards Hearthome City while also looking for points of interest where fossils would be more likely to be found. Chopper and Tricky meanwhile would hang out with Owen's pokemon (with Tricky being dragged in more than willingly participating).

<You were all super strong, especially Cephalo, Gwana, and the big one that just evolved...whatever your name is! How long have you all been battling for?> Tricky didn't have much to say, however she found the blue goggles equal parts odd yet interesting. <How well can you see out of those?> Tricky would ask, only to have her question unanswered as Cephalo returned to his pokeball.

“I am detecting one major cave on Route 214 that may be of interest, granted it's a detour not in a direct route to Hearthome. Local area data suggests it was created by a dedicated ruin maniac some time ago,” Haxx would report after compiling some data, causing Travis' mobile to flash in blue light in sync with the Porygon-Z's speech. “Anything about recent fossil discoveries there?” Travis would ask before Haxx would take a moment to gather a response and reply, “No data available, most reports mention the presence of Unown. There is another point of interest in the Solaceon Ruins but it's another hotspot for Unown sitings.”

“Sounds like we're better off returning to The Grand Underground and taking a route towards Hearthome. We still have about a day and a half or so to find at least one fossil or something worth keeping, but regardless where we go we should probably visit a Pokemon Center and maybe a store to get ready,” Mark would suggest before Travis would ask, “We planning to crash somewhere for the night in Hearthome or Solaceon? I'm not one for literally working all day,”

Mark would answer, “Maybe, but it would probably be better to set up a secret base wherever we dig so we can get back to work sooner, plus it's a lot cheaper and I'm sure between the three of us we could set up something workable.” Travis would sigh in dismay before asking, “Seriously dude? I didn't exactly plan on camping.”

“It's not as bad as you think Trav, I spent a few years hoping around different secret base sites and made it work just fine for me, you'll survive a day. What would you prefer Owen?” Mark would then ask, letting Owen be the tie-breaker in this decision.

Edited by ParadoxialStratagem on Nov 1st 2022 at 5:48:55 AM

Snowpoint

Thetis:"You roped her in with fey business! Fey business!"

Merlin: "...Fou help."

Fou: -preening himself- <Nope, you dug your own grave here.>

Merlin: "Please. Just one hint..."

-Gives her Lilpup eyes-

Thetis: "...Fine. Paldea."

Merlin: "...Paldea?"

Fou: <Paldea?>

Celstic

Owen: -spots the man and Lucario- "Oh hey! Have you seen a dark haired woman, purple eyes, long black coat, looks like she could step on yo-"

Odin: "And stop asking literally everyone we meet!"

Owen: Well how ELSE are we supposed to find info.

Odin: -looks the dude and his Lucario up and down- I admit, this man and this Shiny Lucario DO look like they've been places...

Edited by Umbramatic on Nov 1st 2022 at 8:55:52 AM

Lavender Tower, past

Lesia: -Spins one more time to attack the now baloonless Shroomish-

Stormchaser, Y-Squad Room

Lissa: ...Yeah. It really is, huh?

-For a moment, she expects that vicious voice in the back of her head to chime in, but there's nothing. That rare smile forms on her face once again.-

Lissa: In that case, thanks for letting me crash here, guys. I'm just gonna rest my eyes for a bit. Try not to get yourself nearly killed again in the meantime, okay? If this whole "friendship" thing was just a ploy to make me feel bad when you get hurt, I'm gonna be so mad.

-She closes her eyes and leans back contentedly in her chair.-

Edited by Herbert40k on Nov 1st 2022 at 3:34:24 PM

Battle Academy

Madeleine: <That's a little bit better. It's more Sarge's level of volume - if you see a little Joltik with a bandana, just pretend to be busy. He'll try to get you to do Joltik training exercises.>

-Gabriella laughs.-

Gabriella: More like you get to run around Paldea under the academy's sponsorship. But, from the sound of it, the faculty are having some difficulties trying to sell an Orre experience.

Xavier: Can't imagine why...

-Suddenly, a slight ping sounds, and a remarkably large Machoke comes by and places a massive platter in front of Xavier.-

Heracles: -Grunt-

-Xavier stares dumbfounded at the entire meat-lovers pizza sitting in front of her.-

Gabriella: That's a big pizz-

-Xavier then dives on it, downing two slices before anyone can even react before moving on to the rest of it.-

Gabriella: Is everyone in this school a bigger eater than I am?

Battle Academy

As Gabriella is finishing her sentence, Daria sits down again with two more bowls of the bisque, having gotten up to get more food while Gabriella was talking. She eats several more mouthfuls before looking up at her.

"Sorry, what was the question?"

Outside of Veilstone Gym

<Oh, we've been doing this for years!> Stipax responded. <We defeated the Kanto League, so... we've had a lot of experience with battling and Abilities. I do think we could still use some held items, though... but what should they be?>

Owen, meanwhile, paused for a few moments before eventually responding.

"...I think I'd like to go to the cave on Route 214," he said. "I know Haxx said there hasn't been any fossil discoveries there, but that doesn't mean there won't be a chance to find any."

Outside The Veilstone City Gym:

<That's so cool! I've had the honor of being the lead pokemon who helped my trainer Mark beat the Hoenn and Kanto Leagues back when I was a Machop!> Chopper would compliment before offering, <One of these days we should train together, maybe even spar so I know how strong you really are, but I don't think Mark's in the mood for sparring right now.>

“That's a good point. If there were any recorded fossil discoveries, I'm sure all the new Ruin Maniacs would start moving in to scour the rest of them,” Travis said before mentioning, “You sure it's a good idea to go digging around at night? We don't really know the area very well, or at least I don't.”

“I will be collecting as much relevant information about our destination as I can in the background and save it for later when I inevitably lose reception when we go underground,” Haxx reported reassuringly before adding, “I have planned a route that takes us to Route 214, The Underground, and ultimately Hearthome City with a potential detour in the Solaceon Ruins if we don't find what we're looking for that whole time.”

“Sounds like we have our path and plan set. Let's split up to visit any pokemon centers or pokemarts to take care of any prep work and meet up at the North Entrance for Route 214. Might seem odd we're exploring caves so late, but between all three of us our team's more than strong enough to handle anything short of a serious threat. Plus we won't have to deal with as many people...not like there's that many archaeologists around here I don't think,” Mark would say conclusively before he and Travis would break off, the former making a B-line straight for Route 214 while Travis would stop at the Veilstone City Pokemart to stock up on battling supplies and max repels before reaching Mark's location.

Veilstone City

Owen nodded, then waved over to Mark and Travis.

"See you guys in a bit!" he cried.

Soon afterwards, he promptly returned both Anomalo and Stipax and ran off to the Pokemon Center to heal his mons up.

ONE TRIP TO THE POKEMON CENTER LATER...

Route 214

Once Owen was sure that his mons were healed, he immediately left the Pokemon Center, sending Stipax out of his ball and back on his shoulder as he did so. From there it was on to the mart, where he got a few more items. Soon afterwards, he saw Mark at the entrance to the cave.

"Alright, I'm back," he said. "Did some healing up at the Pokemon Center, got some items at the mart, and now..." He held up his shovel. "It's time for some spelunking."

He glanced around.

"Of course, the only problem is... where to start?"

Vaughn and Colt nearly jumped, only to look over and see Odin and Owen. Colt looked them up and down and responded with. ~Uh no, have you seen a red haired woman in a black bodysuit and armor? Perhaps multiples of her?~

"We're kind of avoiding her," Vaugh said.

~Yeah bad news for everyone if she shows up.~

Route 214:

While Mark would pass the time waiting around, occasionally looking at his surroundings while spending most of the time with his arms crossed, Chopper would grow bored and start doing pushups and the other occasional exercise. Tricky would curl into a ball and decide to take a nap while Travis would sit cross-legged and play a Pokemon Tetris Expy both to pass the time and test out some potential graphics mods with Haxx helping out.

“Was wondering when you'd show up. Hope you've done all the prep work you think you're gonna need, because we're not getting any new supplies anytime soon,” Mark told Owen in response to his announcement. He then turned to Travis and said, “Aiyt game time's over. You said you knew where some good dig sites were?”

After making some adjustments, Travis would stand up and prompt Tricky to wake up before browsing some previously opened tabs and reporting, “Our best lead's in the rock face south of us. That'll take us to a tunnel some self-proclaimed Digging Maniac made a while ago. Connects straight to the Solaceon Ruins, not to mention it looks like there's a lot of potentially good entry points into The Grand Underground. Expect to see a lot of Geodudes, some weird hippo pokemon and even Unown.”

Mark would roll his eyes in response to the latter portion of Travis' report before muttering, “Greeaaaat, just what I was hoping for: The Psychic Alphabet Soup of pokemon...Let's not spend anymore time there than we need to.” Without further delay, Mark and Chopper would lead the way with Travis and Tricky following behind him as the party would be lead south, only to hang a right westward toward the Maniac Tunnel.

Route 214

Owen nodded. "Right. Don't worry, I don't think I'll be needing any healing items for quite a while."

He turned to face Stipax. "Alright, Stipax. Once we get en route to the Maniac Tunnel, start digging for any Fossils. We've got a lot of work to do. Also keep your eye out for any Pokemon. I don't really want any of you to get hurt anymore than you have to, especially now that it's nighttime."

Stipax nodded.

With that, Owen and Stipax followed Mark and Travis to the rock face, before starting on the route to the Maniac Tunnel.

En Route to the Maniac Tunnel

Eventually, they made it to the southern rock face leading into the tunnel, and almost immediately Stipax jumped off of Owen's shoulder and began digging, desperate to find a Cover Fossil somewhere within the dirt. Or a Jaw Fossil. Or an Old Amber.

Owen, meanwhile, promptly sent out Steggy, Eurypedis, and Cephalo, all of whom glanced around at the tunnel.

<Digging for more fossils, I see,> Eurypedis noted.

<Aww, this is sick!> cried Cephalo. <I can't wait to pull off some stunts in this cave!>

<I'd advise against it, that's how you died,> Eurypedis responded.

<Aww, you think I care about that?> cried Cephalo. <I got these things on me now! I can handle anything!>

Eurypedis rolled his eyes.

<Ooooh! Neat cave!> cried Steggy. <Are there Pokemon here?>

<I'm looking for some,> Stipax responded.

THE HASSLEMON INTERWEBS (Axis)

aqueousGearwheel (AG) began hassling apaceCourier (AC).

AG: ψψ hi tekk@n ψψ

AG: ψψ @re you there¿ i need to @sk you @ f@vor ψψ

AC: Guaranteed or your moneyback! What favor do you need to a$k, Axollo?

AG: ψψ there's @ goomy running ψild in m@uville city ψψ

AG: ψψ he ψ@s going to perform @ shoψ tod@y, but he's @ bit shy ψψ

AG: ψψ so he left ψψ

AG: ψψ s@int drogo told me @n ide@ for you to go @round finding him since you're so f@st ψψ

AC: Who'$ $aint Drogo?

AG: ψψ oh i didn't tell you ψψ

AG: ψψ i t@lk to constell@tions ψψ

AG: ψψ it's hoψ i get my crazy ideas ψψ

AC: ...Well. Anyway$! I will $ertainlydothatfavor for you! I can find a Goomy ea$ily! ...at lea$t I'm pretty $ure I can.

AG: ψψ yippee ψψ

AG: ψψ th@nk you tekk@n ψψ

AC: Oh, no problem, Axollo! I'll $ee you later!

apaceCourier (AC) left the chat.

aquaeousGearwheel (AG) left the chat.

Mauville City (Axis, August 2021)

On the outside, Letina and Axis stood there, waiting to see when Axollo would come out of his PokeBall. The former, in particular, tapped her foot impatiently.

"When on Earth is he going to come out...?" muttered Letina.

"Not sure," Axis responded. "I am curious about what his idea is going to be, though."

"Well... he hasn't always been the brightest," Letina said. "That being said, though... I won't deny that he is sometimes prone to smart ideas."

"Really?" Axis asked.

Letina nodded. "Said moments are few and far between, though. I am unsure if this idea he mentioned will be one of his crazier ideas or one of his more sane ones."

And then seconds later, Tekkan emerged from his PokeBall.

"T-Tekkan?!" cried Axis. "What are you doing here?"

<Well, I'm happy you asked!> Tekkan responded. <Got a message from Axollo that said you were looking for a Goomy in Mauville City?>

Axis blinked.

"Y-yes," they said.

<Aaaand it's one of his moments of sanity,> Letina noted. <I'm assuming that he asked you for help in finding him?>

<Yessiree!> Tekkan said.

"Well, in that case," Axis said, "he could be anywhere! W-we need to find him!"

Letina nodded. "Indubitably."

"Lead the way, Tekkan!" cried Axis.

Tekkan nodded, and with that said, he, Axis, and Letina ran off to see if they could find Viscor.

Sunyshore City, continuing from here

Savannah: Neither am I, really. You get used to it. O-or at least, I did.

A-anyway, ready to go?

Sunnyshore City, Savannah Zone

Tony: Yeah, I'm all set to go. God, I hope I won't fall off...

He'd then clutch his briefcase and hold on to Ascent for dear life.

Battle Academy

Gabriella: Never mind...

-She sighs and shakes her head.-

-Xavier, meanwhile, is already halfway done with her pizza.-

Gabriella: At least our uniforms are stain-resistant.

Battle Academy, Floor of History

Angela: You wanted me to see something, Malk-

-Angela stops and blinks at the sight before her.-

-Malkuth is presently kneeling, petting the head of a small, charred... Gothorita? Wait a second...-

Angela: ... Malkuth? Is that...?

Malkuth: Oh, Angela! You can probably guess who this is!

Angela: The Scorched Girl? She's a Pokemon?

Malkuth: Kinda sorta, yeah! She's only stable on this floor, but she's fairly docile compared to what she was like before!

-Angela looks down at the Gothorita, who looks back at her with dour, smoldering eyes.-

Angela: And by "docile"...

Malkuth: No, she hasn't tried to light anyone on fire. Yet.

Angela: Please see that she doesn't.

Malkuth: Oh, but that's not all!

Angela: Oh?

Malkuth: I also managed to get the process to work on some of the other Abnormalities, as well!

Angela: Please tell me they've been docile as well...

Malkuth: So far? Yes!

Angela: I would prefer if we stuck with the low-risk Abnormalities for the time being. I must strongly advise against trying this with any of the Alephs yet.

Malkuth: Don't worry, I thought the same thing. Binah in particular didn't seem thrilled about the idea of bringing her three together.

Angela: Considering the last time the Three Birds of the Black Forest were reunited, I'd have to say that's a safe idea for the time being.

-She looks down at the Gothorita, who is still looking at her.-

Angela: If you notice any other irregularities, be sure to let me know.

Malkuth: Will do, Angela!

Battle Academy

Daria finishes her third bowl. "So, what happens after lunch? What are the classes here like?"

???, the Counsellor's Office

Whitt enters the office. He is looking significantly worse for wear after his time at PEFE; his arm is in a sling, bandages cover much of his torso, and his face is still bound in a couple of places. At the very least, he has been told that none of his injuries are likely to be permanent.

"I need to ask you about something," he says.

Celstic

Owen: "...Hey, you know what? You're trying to avoid someone, I'm trying to find someone, perfect pair amirite?" -eyebrow wiggle-

Odin: "Oh come on."

Sunyshore

-There is a light coming from here-

-It seems to be being emmitted by an oddly dressed enby carrying several suitcases-

Lavender Town

-The Shroomish are now all crumpled up-

Jackie: <...Maybe we should try the stairs.>

Maniac Tunnel:

Once the party and Stipax began digging, Mark would proceed to ask Owen, “So how long do you plan to be digging for? I have no problem staying up late, but I don't know how you usually do things. Are you and Stipax going to be digging the whole time or are you going to rotate your pokemon in shifts?” At this point Travis would activate his Valuable Detector app on his mobile and began searching around for any signatures that indicated the presence of nearby valuable items while Tricky would volunteer herself to stand watch, guarding over Stipax and all the other pokemon involved with digging, which would include Chopper who was all too eager to cooperatively compete with the galvantula to find something worth showing.

“I've been looking in the settings and source code of this app you made Haxx, great job by the way...but were you really only able to find signature libraries for trainer items and vendor trash?” Travis would ask, appearing to talk to his phone that replied, “Those were the only available frequency collections I could find that were publicly shared on the internet. There's proprietary software that claims to be able to detect valuable ores, minerals, and even DNA,”

Travis would wonder, “So what you're saying is not only are there already Valuable Detector programs out there, but they're even better than what you made?” After a brief pause, Haxx would state matter of factly, “Better? Debatable, different? Without a doubt. I could easily integrate the key features of these apps into yours if you were to pay for them or bypass the paywalls,”

“I'm not one for stealing from honest people, but I'm also kinda not in a cash-spending mood so I guess I'll have to figure out how to upgrade this app later...Did any of the detector apps you found say anything about being able to detect fossils?” Travis would continue with Haxx responding, “Not explicitly. Some appeared to detect DNA, but it appeared to be for more forensic applications,”

Travis would think for a moment before suggesting, “I'm curious if you're able to detect amber. I know it tends to be a common vector for containing fossils and sells for a pretty sum itself,” “An interesting theory you have there, I'll need some time to redefine some parameters and make other changes, but—-yes, positive match for amber found in my library. Give me a moment while I reload,” For the next several minutes, Haxx would refresh the Valuable Detector with a broadened variety of things it could register as “valuable”, and while Travis wasn't seeing anything currently, it would only be a matter of time before something would get picked up. “Haxx you're gonna have to let me browse the full source code of what you made so I can see where you left off and where I can pitch in.”

Mark meanwhile would keep his eyes peeled for any potential wild pokemon or travelers wandering by their location. “With Chopper busy, I suppose now's a good time to get Rookie some experience with sentry duty, maybe even get him some battle practice.” Mark thought to himself aloud before releasing the Riolu companion from his pokeball that he hadn't emerged from in some span of time, who looked around with curiosity, confusion and wonder before Mark put him to work.

"Welcome back to the real world Rookie. Don't worry about having to do anything too crazy, I'm starting you off with some basic sentry duty," Mark informed the Riolu, who promptly gave his trainer a brief salute before assuming a defensive fighting stance, facing the opposite side of Tricky who never met this mon before and had no idea what he was like. The Manectric would tilt her head in curious confusion only for a brief moment before returning to keeping watch over the digging crew.

Sunyshore

"Alright, alright, Xatu, what's this all about?" Kendall asked in minor annoyance, turning to look at the Mystic Pokemon guiding him through the streets to the enbies.

"Oh," he trailed off, recognizing by their sophisticated look and androgyny that they had some not-insignificant amount of power.

Watch your words very carefully, Xatu warned before returning himself.

Maniac Cave

"Well, usually we just dig until we find something, or unless we can't find anything," said Owen. "Stipax is a fast digger— unless he crashes into something— so we usually find something within a few seconds."

He paused.

"Wait, there's amber here?"

Eurypedis, Steggy, and Cephalo, meanwhile, would notice Rookie near them.

<Oooh! New mon!> said Steggy. <Hello there!>

<Huh—?> asked Cephalo— and then he noticed.

<Oh! Sweet! I didn't know this dude had a Riolu! Name's Cephalo— just warning you in advance, if you ever evolve in the future, be careful if you ever see a giant blue glowing pottery wheel in the future, because I heard about the method that you might go through, and—>

<Don't listen to him,> said Eurypedis. <He's got no clue what he's talking about.>

<HEY!> Cephalo snapped.

Eurypedis rolled his eyes.

All four of them.

Soon afterwards, he walked over to Rookie and extended a claw.

<Eurypedis,> he said. <It's nice to meet you. I do hope we can—>

CRASH

At the sound, Owen, Steggy, Cephalo, and Eurypedis all turned their heads.

"Stipax!" cried Owen.

<Owwww... guys...! I think I found something!>

The group turned to face Stipax, who, indeed, had crashed— into a giant rock that looked like it had fallen from a cliff. And sure enough, next to Stipax, was an Old Amber— and two fossils.

A Cover and Jaw Fossil.

Owen lit up instantly.

"Sweet!" he cried, running over to the three fossils. "Great work, Stipax!"

<Well! That was quick!> said Cephalo.

<Wonder what Pokemon they're going to be,> said Steggy.

<You'll see,> said Eurypedis.

Owen, meanwhile, grabbed the fossils and turned to look at Stipax.

"You alright?" he asked.

Stipax nodded. <I'm fine. Just... bumped into this giant rock. Wonder what it's there for?>

Owen glanced up at the rock in confusion.

"I'm not sure, Stipax," said Owen. "At any rate, we've got somewhere else to head now, and it's certainly not the Underground."

Stipax jumped back onto his Trainer's shoulder.

<Oreburgh?> he asked.

"If everyone else is okay with it," said Owen.