Shinji had contacted his leader and a large digital screen appeared in front of him. The live footage of the leader appeared. Shinji smiled and crossed his arms.
"We are in Flowdai Town, where the Ragnu Peak is located. Everything is going according to plan." Shinji said.
"Good. We need those Bracelets. They hold powerful Ragnu Energy and if awakened in their hands by Ragnarok, we won't be able to stop them. They may be young adults, but show no mercy. Do whatever you need to get the Ragnu Bracelets. We must not fail." The Anti-Sync Boss said.
"Shinji, you are one of my best in the organization. Do not fail me." The Anti-Sync Boss continue.
Shinji chuckled and closed his eyes. "Trust me, the kids aren't gonna be an issue. We just need to deal with those Legendary Trainers. Once we take them down, everything else should be a breeze. We are planning to strike once they make their way at Ragnu Peak."
"I see. If you need assistance, contact me. I will come down myself and deal with the pests." The Anti-Sync Boss said.
Shinji nodded. "Understood."
~~~~~
"Are you feeling better?" Aurora asked as she sat at the PokePark with me, Melody, and Azalea.
I nodded and smiled, watching our pokemon play and get to know Oshawott better. "Yeah I am. It's still hard to take in, but I know I can get through it."
"Good because I don't want to travel with a depressed leader." Melody smiled and wrapped her pinky around mine.
"Do you still need time to recover before we start training?" Azalea asked.
I looked at Azalea and smiled. "No, I'll be alright. I probably need something to get my mind off things anyway."
"Alright, feel free to sit out at any point in time." Azalea said.
I nodded. "Okay."
~~~~~
Midori sighed as she talked to Mom with a digital screen following her. "Freya, you can't be mad that I told him! He was going to find out one way or another."
"I never wanted him to find out in the first place! Do you know what that will do to him? Now you're telling me you haven't seen him all freaking day?!" Mom said, angrily and worried.
"Look!" Midori said and slammed a bowl on the counter. "It was either I tell him, or he finds out the hard way! It's better this way."
"No it isn't! I've only told him the good things about Shinji because I didn't want him to think— I didn't want him to know about what truly went down...I don't want him to live a life of hatred. I want him to keep being free spirited, I want him to keep being the little light I always loved." Mom said and held her arms.
"You can't shield him forever when it comes to this. I don't know what truly went down between you and Shinji, but I know your son deserves to know—"
"He cheated on me alright?!" Mom yelled.
Midori looked at Mom and was in complete shock. "What..?"
Mom had her head held low and held her arms. "After I stopped battling and settled down with Shinji, it was amazing. We were in my home region, Alola and all was great until...the news came that I was pregnant."
"He told me he cheated because he wanted a 'beautiful' woman. He says women like me are no longer beautiful when we have kids.." Mom finished.
"That's so stupid, that asshole. Not only what he said was wrong but it is extremely untrue. You are still insanely beautiful, Lily is beautiful, hell even Ophelia is still extremely beautiful and she has TWO kids!" Midori said.
Mom smiled and looked at Midori. "I'm glad you think so.."
"Axel will think the same too. Maybe it will be hard for him to swallow for a bit, but once he truly accepts that his father is just another person and not his dad, he will avenge your honor." Midori said.
Mom nodded and smiled more. "I'm sure he will. He was raised after the four Regional Champion after all."
Midori giggled softly and smiled. "I'm sure he'll come back and when he does I'll tell you."
"Alright. I've got a few errands to run so I'll talk to you soon." Mom said.
"Okay, kisses~" Midori said and blew Mom a kiss.
Mom blew one back and smiled. "Kisses~" She said then hung up.
Midori sighed and heard the front door open. She looked back and noticed I had walked inside. Her eyes widened and she hurried over to me and hugged me.
I blushed and grunted. "O—kay! Too...tight..!"
Midori let me go and held my shoulders. "You're back...I thought you'd never come back after everything.."
"I had a little talk with Bianca and Cheren...They taught me some good lessons about Truth and Ideals. Lessons I never thought I could learn. I let the Truth control me for a bit...I let my own Ideals cloud my better judgement, but I've learned." I said and smiled at Midori.
Midori smiled back at me and held my arms. "I'm glad you're back...Your mom was a little angry at me, but all is well now.."
Azalea, Aurora, and Melody walked in and Midori smiled at them as well. They smiled back and everyone was happy once again.
"We can get started on the training. Axel said he's well enough to get to it." Azalea said.
"Right." Midori nodded.
~~~~~
"Alright! Let's get down to it! This is an exciting training event because you'll be learning to fight. As you know, Team Sync is known to be pretty hands on, so we'll teach you how to keep their hands off you!" Midori said as she stood outside in her karate gi.
Aurora, Melody, and I nodded. We noticed noticed Flowgrace summon roots from the ground and form in front of us.
"Your mission is to break these roots. This will help in your strength. Flowgrace went a bit easy on the durability so they shouldn't take too long to break." Azalea smiled.
I looked at the root and heard a crack. I looked at Melody and noticed her sadistic smirk as she had kicked the roots and broke it.
"Too easy..." Melody smirked.
"I keep forgetting she's a princess so she's trained for combat.." Azalea said and smiled then watched me and Aurora.
Aurora punched the roots then winced. She held her hand and hissed. "Arceus! That hurt..!"
I stepped forward and placed my hand on the root, feeling how sturdy it was. I got into my stance and punched the roots with full force. I grunted as my hand began to hurt. I took my hand off it and noticed I hadn't done any damage to it.
"On the first few tries it will be hard, but you will get it eventually. Remember kicking works as well. I know you've seen Fighting Type Specialists fight. Think bringing forth your fighting spirit as you try to break the roots!" Azalea coached.
Aurora and I nodded and kept trying to break the roots. Each blow to the roots hurt us, but we kept going. We were determined to break the roots and grow stronger.
We went at the roots for twenty minutes and soon...
Aurora struck the root with a powerful kick and grunted. She managed to break it and looked excited. "Yes! Finally!"
I palmed the root and broke it. I stopped holding my breath and exhaled. I smiled as I finally broke the root. "Finally, we broke the roots.."
"Great!~ Now you can do that ten more times!~" Midori said.
"What?!" Melody, Aurora, and I said.
"Yep, it's a part of the process. We just have to work on your strength because you can work on speed and endurance when we climb Ragnu Peak. It's a ten day climb." Azalea said and crossed her arms.
"Great..." Melody said sarcastically.
"Don't worry, we can take periodic breaks~ But this is mandatory if you want to be able to fight alongside your Pokemon~" Midori said and smiled.
"I guess so, alright let's get through this." I said.
~~~~~
Dandelion stood outside and looked at the sky. "The closer we get to executing the plan, the more nervous I get. What if something goes wrong and we kill someone on accident?"
"That's what I'm wondering. I'm still trying to figure out why Shinji is so set on only Axel though. I mean he doesn't even care about Aurora and Melody." Kusagi said.
Dandelion looked at her cane and closed her eyes. "We can't betray Team Sync either or else they'll kill us and take our Pokemon away. I don't want to face off against Melody like this...not after we made up.."
Kusagi nodded and crossed his arms. "That does seem like a huge issue, but if we can find a way to avoid fighting them...we can come up with a plan."
Dandelion noticed a group of people hurrying to a crowd. Kusagi noticed as well and hurried over to the crowd. As they reached the crowd they noticed Vain battling against someone.
"Empoleon! Take him down! Hyper Beam!" Vain bellowed.
The man battling Vain placed his hand in his pocket and held the brim of his hat. The brim of his hat covered his eyes then he smirked. He watched his Excadrill get hit with Hyper Beam and his eyes shined behind the brim of his hat.
Dandelion grunted and held onto Kusagi. "That man's battle prowess..!"
Kusagi looked at Dandelion and looked back at the battle. He also felt the man's battle aura but not to the extent of Dandelion.
The smoke cleared and Excadrill was shown unscathed. Empoleon was surprised and watched Excadrill. He dashed toward Excadrill and slashed at him with his flippers, but Excadrill used his blades to deflect the attack.
"Excadrill. Do it." The man said.
Excadrill jumped up and straighten his body to resemble a drill then drilled himself underground. Empoleon looked around and heard rumbling from underground then dodged Excadrill as he emerged above ground and shot up in the air. He spread out his arms and revealed a light blue orb of energy then threw it at Empoleon at high speeds.
The orb of energy slammed into Empoleon and his exploded. Empoleon cried out as he slammed into the digital wall. He fell to the ground, fainted.
[Match Over! Excadrill wins! Legendary Trainer Hilbert wins!]
The crowd cheered and clapped after witnessing such a battle. Dandelion and Kusagi looked surprised after hearing that Vain's opponent was a Legendary Trainer.
"Good job Hilbert!" A woman said and playfully bumped into Hilbert and giggled.
Hilbert nodded and smiled. He looked at Vain and frowned. "Have you learned your lesson? The True Bond between a Pokemon and their trainer is what makes a Pokemon Master. Not brute force and cheap tactics!"
"Tch! Don't act all high and mighty because you won. You only won because you caught us off guard. Only the strong survive in this world! Bonds don't matter when strength rules over everything! That is the Truth!" Vain said then pointed at Hilbert. "You're one of the many trainers in my way...I won't stop until you're down...Hilbert."
Hilbert watched Vain walk away and rose the brim of his had and his eyes shined. "Hm...I sense no good in his heart."
"Me neither, but we should hurry and find Nate and Rosa. I can't believe they wandered off and got lost." The woman said and walked off with her Serperior following behind.
"Maybe we'll find N along the way. He was last seen with them after all." Hilbert said and followed.
Dandelion noticed Hilbert and the woman walk past her and they looked at her. She gripped Kusagi's sleeve and shuddered. She watched then walk off without a word.
"I almost peed myself.." Dandelion said. "Their battle aura is full of good and yet it's so terrifying."
"He defeated Vain so easily. That Excadrill is so powerful...Hopefully we don't run into them.." Kusagi said.
"Y-Yeah.." Dandelion nodded.
~~~~~
"Good job! You three actually managed all ten!" Azalea smiled.
"My...hands...hurt.." Melody said darkly and stared at her red hands.
"Mine too...they're all scathed and rough now.." Aurora said and panted softly.
I sat on the ground and sighed. "What the heck is next?"
Midori smiled and watched us. "Now we will journey to Flowdai Woods, Forest of the Wind. The Ragnu Peak will have very strong winds so you'll need a Pokemon that can help control the wind. There are many Pokemon in Flowdai Woods that can control the wind."
"Flowdai has the most flying types in all of Ragnu. Ragnarok doubles as both the Standard Ragnu Master and the Flying Ragnu Master since the first Ragnu Pokemon was a Flying Type essentially." Azalea explained.
"Really? What Pokemon?" I asked.
"A Mandibuzz. Ragnarok does love Pokemon that don't really see a lot of traction, but anyway you all deserve a nice rest tonight. We will set out to Flowdai Woods tomorrow." Azalea said.
"Yippie.." Melody said sarcastically.
I smiled at Melody and chuckled. "We will be ready tomorrow."
"Good." Azalea chuckled and nodded.