"Dolly? Where are you?"
I walked around the twisted caverns of Mt Pyre, trying to find Dolly who had dashed off into the fog that constantly surround the mountain. I knew this is most likely Dolly's birthplace, which was the main reason why I decided to visit it. Still, I never thought that she would be so excited as to dash off into the fog without me the moment we landed at the foot of Mt Pyre after I got off Bigblue's back, who had ferried us to the mountain through the waters.
I turned my head slightly to my right where Bigblue was, and he just gave a shrug. His head fin probably cannot detect ghosts very well, it wasn't built that way. We had walked deep into the heart of Mt Pyre, beyond the 'KEEP OUT' sign that was erected for travelers. Usually I would heed the warnings of the signs, they were put there by the Rangers for a good reason. But Dolly is in there, and she's a part of my team. Even if this is her birthplace, I will not leave her here unless I know for sure that she is absolutely safe.
Where did she go anyway? We had already climbed halfway up the mountain. I'm lucky that Bigblue's proficiency in Rock Surf had allowed us to climb effortlessly up here so far without much trouble. We don't even have to physically climb. Bigblue simply extended a rectangular platform made out of rock on the side of the mountain for the both of us, and use the rock to lift us up like an elevator before we walked further inwards.
I walked deeper into the mountain, following the path as we continued our search for Dolly. I know Dolly will return to us, but how strong are the wild pokemons here? Most of them won't be a match for Dolly, but what if there are extremely strong ones? What if there is another ghost here on Macky's level? Will Dolly be safe then?
Bigblue gave me a gentle nudge, and I turned to look at him, and saw him pointing to another small cave at the side of the cavern. I would have missed it. The entrance was positioned in such a way that you will never see the entrance unless you saw it at the correct angle. Was this man-made? Or was this a work of nature?
I entered the small cave and Bigblue just managed to squeeze himself through it. The entrance was small, but the interior of the cave is huge. The fog circling around the exterior of the mountain had somehow found itself into this particular cave, and I was immediately on guard. The entire cavern was free of the fog, and so far the fog can only be found on the outside of the mountain. So why was this cave so special? Is this home to extremely powerful ghosts? The pinnacle of ghost type pokemons are known to bring ghostly fogs with them.
I was about to release Kel from her pokeball when I heard Dolly's familiar chattering.
"Dolly!"
Dolly appeared out of the wall on my left and hugged my chest. She chattered excitedly, and tried to drag me in a certain direction deeper towards the cave. I was hesitant. Dolly's idea of fun can be very different from the rest of my team, and some of them aren't exactly safe.
"Are you sure it's safe in there, Dolly?"
Dolly nodded her head excitedly, and went on to gesture wildly and flying her loop de loops at high speeds around me before floating behind my back and tried to push me forward in the direction she wanted me to go.
"Alright, alright. I get it. Come on, let's see what you found."
Dolly led us deeper into the cave and I have to recall Bigblue as Dolly led us through the smaller parts of it. There were many other smaller caves along the way that lead to many other places but Dolly seemed to have a particular destination in mind, not stopping to consider where she was going and led me through a series of turns and bends. I had to release Toothless out halfway as the light is too dim to allow me to see properly and I need the light from his tail-flame. The fog is not present at this section of the mountain, and I realised that we had somehow climbed higher up the mountain while Dolly led us.
Dolly led us to another small cave opening and me and Toothless entered with her. It is another cavern. Not as huge as where I had reunited with Dolly, but a lot more spacious than the usual ones we saw during our short time on Mt Pyre. It is still pretty dark here and I could only see the area in my immediate vicinity with the help of the light from Toothless's tail-flame. Toothless seemed a little agitated and restless, something is unsettling him. Dolly seems unaffected though. Why?
Dolly pulled on the sleeve of my shirt and I followed as she led me a few steps forward to a large wall of rock that was erected in the middle of the cavern. Definitely man-made. She pointed up on the wall of rock as if she wanted to show me something. I couldn't see clearly, so I asked Toothless to increase the brightness of his tail-flame and I saw what Dolly was trying to show me.
Legendaries.
The drawings of Groudon and Kyogre, to be specific. There's no mistaking it. The drawings are more like ancient murals than any form of art that I had seen, and it was definitely drawn a long time ago, maybe even before the warring states era. There are very little records in this world on how legendaries actually looked like, especially the truly powerful ones. Some have been sighted in recent years, but there were no photos of it since they always appeared briefly before disappearing. Most of the time, we only have written descriptions of how they looked like in this world and even then no one even knows if they are actually accurate. We only know that they existed, psychic type pokemons all around the world have confirmed their existence to their trainers when asked, even if they themselves do not know anything else about the legendaries. I would know how legendaries looked like. I have played the games of the pokemon franchise in my previous life, even if I only played up to pokemon platinum, but I would know how the legendaries of the newer versions of pokemon games will look like until my untimely demise. The first thing any pokemon fans will do after a new generation of pokemon game is released is to check how the legendaries and regional starters of that version will look like. I know a legendary when I see one, especially if it belongs to a version which I have played the game before.
This mural is a drawing depicting the fight of Groudon and Kyogre, there's no doubt about that.
The increased light also brought my attention to two stone orbs lying on the base of the mural, each supported by a small rock shaped like some sort of altar. Dolly cleared the dust off the stone orbs with a very weak Ominous Wind. Two orbs, one ruby red, another sapphire blue, appeared before me, glistening under the light of Toothless's tail-flame. I hesitantly reached out my right hand towards the red orb, and it felt as if something is drawing me towards it, like I couldn't control my actions. I was only half aware of what was going on around me. It was only when I realised that I have started to bend down to try to touch it that I forcefully pulled myself back to reality and I pinched myself to clear my clouded thoughts.
What the hell was that? Was that a form of mind-control?
I shook my head and stared back at the two orbs. These orbs are definitely not normal. They seemed familiar, was it important to the story in pokemon emerald? Or was I overthinking things? Was I forgetting something?
A raspy voice sounded throughout the cavern.
"I wouldn't touch those if I were you."
I spun around, trying to find who was talking to me. Toothless stood protectively in front of me, growling softly. Someone had managed to got past our senses and sneaked up to us unnoticed. I'm not the strongest trainer around, but my pokemons do have good senses. Also, no trainer sneaks up on another trainer, Elite trainer or not, unless they have ulterior motives. It is just polite manners to announce your arrival before you enter the personal space of another trainer when you are on the road. Pokemons under the command of their trainers can be extremely protective of them, and wouldn't hesitate to tear anything they deemed as a threat to their trainers into shreds. Pokemons have a different set of morals and values than humans, and most of them tend to act first, then question later. If you see another trainer that hasn't notice your presence and you are about to enter into his personal space, announcing your arrival is pure common sense and a necessary etiquette.
A slow clacking sound of wood against the stone floor of the cavern rang out and the fog started to seep into the cavern. This trainer was the one that managed to bring the fog into the caverns? Just how strong is her ghost? Or ghosts? A Ghost Specialist, perhaps?
I'm not leaving the safety of my team to chance and I was about to release my entire team, even if I have to bring down the entire cavern on us to ensure our escape when Dolly quickly stopped me and gestured wildly.
"Relax, child. An old hag like me would have no motivation to harm you. I just want to see the trainer of the banette that has intrigued me so. It's very well-trained for a ghost so young."
I could see the form of an elderly woman in the fog. She wasn't very tall, her height probably shrunk due to her old age. She held a wooden walking cane in her right hand, which was the first object to emerge from the fog, followed by her wrinkled right hand which was holding the cane. The elderly woman emerged through the fog and I finally saw who she was.
Agatha. The elderly woman standing about ten feet away from me is the ex member of Indigo's Elite Four, and a Ghost Master recognised by the PWL.
My mouth opened and closed in shock as I tried to form words. Agatha is a legend in the pokemon world, especially when she was in her prime as she decimated her foes with her ghosts. She was nigh unbeatable until Lance came and even then it was a very close battle. She is someone that trainers all around the world will respect, simply because she is so strong.
"M-My name is Velda Vera. It's nice to meet you, Ms. Agatha."
I gave a ninety degree bow and held it there for a short while before rising back up again. She deserves the highest form of respect simply for being able to tame ghosts, something not many trainers in the history of PWL were able to do.
Agatha cackled and gave a simple wave of her hand.
"Finally, a youngling that knows how to respect her elders. Children these days..." She shook her head before continuing. "You are of the Vera family? Maybe that would explain how you managed to tame a ghost at such a young age. It still has a long way to go to reach the pinnacle of its powers, but this ghost hasn't been in your possession for very long, has it? How long have you trained this banette?"
"Just slightly more than a year. About one year and two months? I didn't tame Dolly, by the way. Dolly was pretty tame to begin with when I first met her as a shuppet, she just needs companionship. All I did was to befriend her before she decided to join me on my journey. I met her on Dewford, which is kind of weird since shuppets don't live there. I think she was a case of pokemon abandonment, but I don't know for sure."
"A wild ghost with mild temperament?" Agatha voice rose a little higher towards the end. "Not impossible, but those cases are rare. Ghosts in the wild are vicious until you beat them black and blue, and even then they won't stop trying to get at you. You are very lucky, child."
I nodded. "I know. She has been a very good friend to me."
Agatha coughed a few times as she tried to straightened her breathing. Was she sick?
"Do you know what these are?" Agatha gestured to the mural with her head, waiting for my answer.
"Groudon, and Kyogre. Groudon is said to have the ability to raise lands and expand continents, bringing droughts with him and saving people of the past from floods. It is the personification of land itself. Kyogre is the opposite. It is said to live in the depths of the ocean and have the ability to expand oceans, bringing torrential rains and saved people from droughts. It is the personification of the sea. They are supposedly arch-enemies, and have clashed many times in the distant past. Their fights created the landmass and bodies of water that resulted into the various continents as what we know now. No one knows why they fought and why they stopped fighting." I took a pause and looked at Agatha. "But why is something like this on Mt Pyre?"
Agatha gave a shrug. "Beats me. I just got here a few days ago myself. Thought I should drop by Hoenn after enjoying myself in Orre. Mt Pyre is home to many ghosts in Hoenn, so naturally I came here for some sight-seeing." I can't help but opened my mouth slightly in shock. The rumours were true? She really went to Orre for a holiday? "Willy found this mural so I came here to have a look. Still trying to figure out what these two orbs are. No clue as of now. I need to go back to Kanto soon though, so I think I will leave it here as it is. The orbs obviously aren't normal, and probably related to the two legendaries you see on the mural. But they have been sleeping here for Arceus-knows-how-long and nothing bad has happened, so it's best to leave it be." Agatha coughed again before continuing. "I don't trust anyone else to know of its existence, you can help an old hag keep a secret, right?"
I nodded. I have a nagging feeling that these orbs are very important. It could be something that I knew in my previous life that I had forgotten or it could be simply my sixth sense. The only thing I'm sure of is that these orbs should be left alone, no matter what.
Agatha gave a sigh. "Thank you, child. Say, do you mind if you indulge this old hag in a battle with your banette? It's been kind of dull on Mt Pyre."
What?
Me? Fighting against Agatha? The Agatha of Indigo's Elite Four? The Ghost Master? Even if she is in retirement now?
Agatha laughed. "Don't worry, child. I just want to see the true extent of your banette's capabilities. A battle is the best way to do so. Not many trainers choose to raise a banette, so I'm merely interested to see exactly how well you have raised it. Banettes aren't the strongest of ghosts when it comes to raw power, but then again a ghost's specialty doesn't lie in its raw power. Something not many trainers realised. You obviously realised this. Tell me, what do you think is a ghost's best weapon?"
"Trickery." I replied immediately, the words came out of my mind before I can think. "Or deceit. I don't know much about other ghosts other than Dolly or my brother's gengar, but they excel in tricking their opponents and they tend to do unexpected things. Dolly is an excellent saboteur, and she had helped my team won many battles simply by foiling enemies' plans or sowing confusion in battle. She helped took down a pokemon from a gym leader's main team, even if I don't agree with her methods." I paused while petting Dolly's head. "But the fact is that she took down a pokemon that none of the other pokemons on my team can, simply by being a tricky opponent to face."
Agatha gave a grin. "Excellent answer! You just told me something that many trainers never bothered to find out in their entire training career simply because they have irrational fear of ghosts. Bah! Cowards! The whole lot of them! I don't know why you ended up fighting a pokemon from a gym leader's main team at your age, but I don't really care." She had another coughing fit before continuing to speak. "Have you ever considered being a Ghost Specialist?"
"I-I never thought about specialising in anything." I admitted. "So I guess I'm going to be a Generalist."
"Ah, a pity then. Ghosts seemed to have a natural liking for you. Such a waste."
As if acting on an unspoken signal, the shadows in the cavern moved, and I saw ghosts of many shapes, sizes, and species rising out of whatever shadows the cavern had produced, looking at us from afar. They were here the entire time?
"They are all wild, just to be clear. I initially thought that I was the one they were attracted to seeing I deal with their kind my whole life, until you came along and I realised their attention was on you. It's like they are waiting for you to arrive here. I've never seen someone like you before, someone who is actually liked, no, loved by ghosts. It's just not in their nature. But that's also why you are naturally suited to be a Ghost Specialist, it will be easier for you to tame them. However, you are still young, so take your time to think on what kind of trainer you want to be." She tapped her cane onto her ground. "Come on now, child. Follow me, you did promised to indulge this old hag in a battle." Agatha cackled before turning around to walk back to where she came from, and I had no idea on what to do other than to follow her although some of Agatha's words kept repeating itself in my head.
Ghosts loved me? Why?
Our battle turned out to be more of a coaching session from Agatha. She found out about my reactions to Dolly's use of Destiny Bond on Winona's dragonite, and bonked me hard on the head with her cane.
"What your banette did isn't wrong, child, although I can understand where you are coming from. What your banette did was definitely dangerous, but the dangerous part is just the Curse part, since the damage was self-inflicted. Destiny Bond was perfectly safe to use for your banette's case." She took a deep breath before rubbing her temple with her free hand. "Can't blame you though. Here's a quick question, how does a ghost die?"
"Uh... they sustain serious damage? And their health dropped to critically low levels...? Come to think about it, I don't think I ever read about how ghosts die. Do they leave a corpse after they passed on? Or do they just disappear?"
Agatha briefly pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand as she closed her eyes. "That's the problem with the world nowadays. There's too little knowledge known to the public about ghost types, and trainers ended up doing stupid things with their ghosts simply because they are ignorant." She sat down on a nearby rock and continued to speak. "Ghosts do die, but only if they sustain heavy damage from ghost or dark type techniques since such techniques are naturally effective on ghosts. That dragonite's Dragon Pulse will have caused your banette to temporary dissipate and left it without a body, looking as if it died, but it will reform its body gradually after some time. The stronger the ghost, the shorter time they need to reform. If that Dragon Pulse was a Dark Pulse, then you will really need to worry about your banette truly dying to such a powerful attack. From what I know, Curse has a similar effect as being inflicted by a ghost or dark type techniques on the ghost using it, so it is also too dangerous for them to use it when they are on low health. Destiny Bond merely lets the user and target share the same fate, so if your banette dies, so does the dragonite. If your banette faints, then the dragonite faints as well. If you cannot remember or understand what I've said so far, just remember this: so long as your banette isn't stupid enough to use Curse while it's on low health and it doesn't receive an absurdly strong ghost or dark type attacks, your banette will live an immortal life."
I listened to all these intently, not everyone has the chance to be personally taught by a Ghost Master, even if it's just for an hour.
"Let me give you a live demonstration. NILLY!"
A gengar rose up from Agatha's shadow, and floated about 30 feet away from us and high into the air.
"Watch carefully, child. Nilly, Explosion!"
I watched in shock as Nilly exploded and tore itself into pieces, vaporising into purple miasma. However, about two seconds later, the miasma congregated together as Nilly reformed its body, cackling loudly. Another gengar appeared beside Nilly, and exploded in an Explosion as well, before quickly reforming its body. The two gengars then began to take turns exploding while cackling. They were having fun.
I have no idea how blowing yourself up is fun. But then again, they are gengars.
"That other gengar is called Willy. Together they are Willy-Nilly. I don't know why they liked their names, it was supposed to be a joke. But do you see now? The way my gengars used Explosion would have killed any other pokemon capable of using that same move. Not for the gengar species, or any other ghosts. It might take years, months, weeks, or days for them to reform after using Explosion, but they will reform their bodies one day. They won't die from this move. Why? Because Explosion is a normal type move, it is not naturally effective on ghosts. So don't worry about ordering your banette to use Destiny Bond if the conditions are right. In fact, she might even enjoy using it. That's just how ghosts are."
"Dolly might even enjoy using Destiny Bond? That doesn't make any sense."
"Another thing for you to note then. Maybe it's because the only ghosts you've met so far are very tame creatures and that's why you do not know how vicious ghosts truly are. Once they start fighting they will stop at nothing to bring their enemies down. Nothing. If their opponents are too strong, they will simply bring their foes down with them even at the cost of their lives. The reasons the death rate of young ghosts is so high is because they tend to fight each other instead of pokemons of other typings, so they ended up killing their own species who can deal proper damage to each other. No matter how tame ghosts appear to be they will always have that viciousness, it's just a matter of how well they can control and hide it. What your banette did is to follow its instincts and unleashed its true nature to bring down its foes even at the cost of its own life. Can you blame your banette for doing things that it is naturally programmed to do? Can you stop it? No, you can't. Nobody can, even me."
Agatha gave me another bonk on my head with her cane. "So get your mind out of that stupid gutter called 'ignorance'. If I were you, I will start on making strategies on how to use Destiny Bond to its full potential. It's a waste not to use such a powerful move, especially when your banette has already perfected it." She stood up to stretch and I could audibly hear the popping sound of her bones. "It's late. Come on, I will let you stay in my hut for a night, then I expect you to be gone after breakfast tomorrow."
This is the best.
I closed my eyes and laid down on the sun chair on Lilycove's beach under the shade of a beach umbrella as I felt the sea breeze caressing my skin. It's been a long time since I've been on a beach. The last time I did was at Slateport with Vance, almost a year ago.
I continued to laze around on the sun chair with Rena, who had curled up beside me on my right and dozed off. I wore a two piece light blue bikini that I had bought from the Lilycove Department Store. The top showed a decent bit of cleavage of my chest, which have suddenly started to grow rapidly ever since I resumed my journey three months ago. It was a little annoying since I have to frequently change my bra to adjust to the sudden increase in size. I hope that it won't grow into the size of melons, those are too heavy. At least now I know my bust size in this life won't be the size of peas. I always wanted a decent bust size, just because I'm vain and superficial like that. My bust size in my previous life was just perfect, in my opinion. Nothing too big, but not small either. People always said that appearances doesn't matter. Bullshit. Appearances does matter at least to a certain extent. Why else would commercial advertisements advertise products by using beautiful women and handsome men to help advertise their products? Also, it's good to finally start growing into a body of an adult. It was nice being a child again, but I missed the feeling of being in an adult's body. Right now my chest size is big for a 12 year old, and I've no problem showing it off proudly in a bikini. What? Don't look at me like that, I'm an adult in a child's body, remember? What else do you want me to wear to the beach? A kiddie swimsuit with hello kitties? No way.
I just hoped that Mum won't find out about me wearing a two piece bikini on the beach. She's a little conservative when it comes to clothing.
I cracked open my eyes as I spotted Fuzzy and Kratos trying to build a massive sandcastle on the very far end of the beach, the size of both pokemons a little speck from where I was due to the distance between us. Bigblue had taken to the sea for a swim with Snap flying overhead as they went to explore the sea route of Route 124 together. Flamel and Kel had decided to go for a run towards the north end of the beach, where it is vacant and empty of people. The north end of the beach is a long, straight stretch of sand that is suitable for the both of them to run. Toothless and Lily had decided to go climb the cliff at the northern side of the beach as well, although I have no idea how Toothless is going to climb with his claws and feet. Dolly had initially tried to bring me to a large rock sticking out of the sea that was situated at the very northern end of the beach and gestured wildly, but I really don't see anything exciting about that rock. It was big, and a short swim away from the sands of the beach, but other than that I don't see anything out of the ordinary. Dolly went exploring by diving into the shadows to who-knows-where after that. Rena hates the sand getting into her fur, and detest getting wet even more, so she decided to laze around on the sun chair with me. There were no one around us, I purposely chose a spot that was far away from the public crowd since people can get very wary of the fully evolved members on my team and they take up a lot of space. I don't want to cause a mayhem, so I chose an isolated spot on Lilycove's beach for us.
I had decided to give us a week long vacation at Lilycove before heading for Mossdeep, as a reward for my pokemon's performance at the Fortree gym. I also apologised and made up to Dolly for my ignorance, but still forbade her to use the Curse and Destiny Bond combo since things could easily screw up with Curse. I had earned quite a bit of money from my time as a gym trainer and from the prize money earned in our battles while travelling to Lilycove, so we can indulge ourselves for a bit. It is our second day here, and I'm already fully enjoying myself.
I was about to doze off myself until I heard the shuffling of footsteps on my left that got nearer towards my location. I opened my left eye this time around, and saw two teenage boys, about 15 years old, in their beachwear. The red haired one had a mohawk hair style while the black haired one had a more spiky and angular cut. Their entire appearance and demeanor were practically announcing themselves to the world as 'punks'. To my amusement, they took a seat in the sun chair next to mine, leaned in closer to me, and started talking.
"Hey babe, you look so hot, I have to freeze myself in Shoal Cave just to even manage to look at you without melting down."
What?! Oh my- HAHAHA! Was that mohawk guy flirting at me? Was that a pick-up line? He's seriously flirting with a 12 year old?!
I bit the inside of my cheeks as I tried very hard not to laugh. Oh God! I really hoped that he used such a bad pick-up line for joking purposes, and not because he really thought that it was good. He looked so serious in saying it too!
The black haired one then started to speak. "Are you a psychic? Cos I'm starting to feel a connection with you."
I cannot help but to sit up and burst out laughing at their ridiculous pick-up lines. HAHAHAHA! PLEASE tell me that they are doing this on purpose!
I continued to bend down in laughter as I glanced at the two boys. The two punkish boys looked a bit confused at why I was laughing at their pick-up lines. Shit, they were actually serious? They thought it was good? Oh kami-sama, HAHAHA!
The mohawk one suddenly shifted over and sat on my sun chair next to me, and draped his right arm over my shoulders as he pulled me closer to him. Ok, this suddenly got very uncomfortable. His dangling right hand is very uncomfortably close to my right breast.
"Hey cutie, you like maths? Because I want to add you to my life, subtract your clothes, divide your legs..."
The conversation suddenly turned into a very lewd one. The worst part? The two of them looked absolutely serious, like 'trying to get into my pants' kind of serious. I'm only physically twelve! No way am I entertaining the idea of sex! I didn't even had one in my previous life! And I definitely do not want a threesome!
I got a little scared at how they began to leer at me like a piece of fresh meat. I politely declined and tried to push the mohawk guy's arm away from my shoulder.
Only for his right hand to squeeze my right breast tightly.
I screamed, and they suddenly tried to pin me down on my sun chair, holding my arms up and trying to pull my legs apart from each other.
The next thing I knew, I was suddenly able to move again as the pressure I felt from the bodies of the two would-be rapists disappeared. I sat up as I tried to catch my breath and saw Rena standing between me and those two scums, who were blasted by her psychic powers and landed at least 15 meters away. They probably didn't see Rena when they approached me, she was beside me on the other side and hidden from sight under my towel, saying that it was too bright to fall asleep.
Rena growled angrily as the air visibly distorted around her, her hairs standing on ends. I could hear the humming of her psychic powers. Rena was mad. Very mad. She had been very protective of me ever since she evolved, a trait seen in her species. Espeons are known to be fiercely loyal to their trainers, and the older generations had always said that they develop their precognitive powers in the first place to protect its trainers from harm. I almost got myself hurt by those scums. Rena would have killed them, but she knew I didn't like to see death and blood after knowing how I died in my previous life. The images of getting crushed and seeing my own blood leaving my body in huge amounts were still a common sight in my nightmares even if I rarely dream of it now. Seeing death was a painful reminder of what I once experienced shortly before the end of my previous life. I didn't like it, and I don't think I will ever get used to it.
I adjusted my bikini, which was almost torn off by the two scums in their attempt to rape me. Luckily, they held, and still covered the important parts of my body. I knew that a journey to travel the world will never be totally safe, but I wasn't expecting to almost get raped on a beach in public. It was the reason why I became a trainer. I wanted to understand more about pokemon, have my own team of them, and travel together while being strong enough to travel safely. I guess this is a good wake-up call for me as well. I should not have let down my guard as much as I did when those two punks approached me. I definitely should not have allowed the mohawk guy to sling his arm over my shoulders. I only got groped this time. It was humiliating, but not anything life-threatening. But it also could have been a lot worse. I won't let anyone get the drop on me like that again. I swear it.
The two punks had recovered and picked themselves up from the ground. They pulled out pokeballs of their own from their pockets. These lousy excuses of a human being are trainers?
They failed to release the pokemons out of their pokeballs as Rena launched the pokeballs out of their hands and far away from them with Psychic. A huge cloud of sand kicked up around them as an angry roar can be heard from the sky.
Snap had returned from his flight.
Snap landed furiously in front of them and roared angrily. They backed off only to find Dolly behind them, who is emitting angry waves of ghostly energy from her body, her usual cheerful personality gone. During this entire time, Fuzzy and Kratos had also reached us, and they surrounded those scums together with Snap and Dolly. The two scums tried to put a brave front at the sight of my pokemons, they probably didn't expect me to be a trainer, much less a trainer with so many trained pokemons.
'Mistress? Are you alright? Are you hurt? The others are on their way back. I've contacted them with telepathy. Bigblue should be arriving anytime soon. The rest are still a little far away, but would not take too long to reach our location.'
'I'm a little shaken, but not hurt. I'm fine, Rena. Thank you for saving me. If it wasn't for you, they would have...'
'No need to say anymore, Mistress. Do you want us to kill them for you? They hurt you. We want them to pay. We can kill them behind the rocks if you do not want to see blood.'
'They will pay, just not in death. Knock them unconscious but don't hurt them. They will pay with the time they spend in jail.'
'It's too light a punishment. All you have to do is to give the order, Mistress. We will make sure it won't be traced back to you, if that is what you are worried about. I know humans have laws regarding killing each other, but -'
'Enough, Rena. No killing. I won't allow you guys to kill unless I give permission, which won't happen. That's an order. Make sure that the others know it too. Just knock those two unconscious.'
Rena remained silent for a short moment before giving a pulse of Psychic. Those two scums dropped down onto the sands, still alive and breathing, but unconscious. I looked to the rest of my pokemon.
"Find and confiscate all their pokeballs, I don't want them to come out and give us anymore trouble. We are turning these scums in to the LSDF."
"We'll make sure that they will serve their rightful punishment, Ms Vera. On a side note, are you sure you are alright?"
"I'm fine, Officer Haley. My pokemon protected me. I'm fine, really."
The officer-in-charge of my attempted rape case, a female LSDF officer called Officer Haley, stared at me briefly before closing the file that documented my testimony. They had authorised the use of their own psychic pokemon stationed in the Lilycove LSDF office to read the minds of those scums in order to validate what I told the LSDF. Once they had confirmation, those two scums were locked up, their pokeballs and Pokedex confiscated, and will be shipped to Dewford first thing tomorrow to face their trial, and then locked behind bars in Dewford's prison once convicted of their crimes.
It was already dinnertime when I walked out of the Lilycove LSDF office. That unpleasant incident had spoiled my mood for the entire day. I ate a quick dinner with my team and decided to take an evening stroll throughout the city with Rena by my side and Fuzzy on my shoulders. I would have let Kel out too, but she probably won't be too well-received among the ignorant locals given the reputation of her species.
I walked past the Contest Hall of Lilycove and saw that there was a pokemon contest being held tonight. It starts in half an hour. Seeing as I had nothing better to do, I purchased a ticket and walked in to find my seat.
Maybe my mood would be a lot better after watching the performances.
I walked out of the Contest Hall as I tried to process how on earth Wallace managed to put up such a spectacular performance simply by showing the different possible usages of Water Pulse with his luvdisc.
Yes, Wallace. The Hoenn Champion actually made his way down to Lilycove to participate in a pokemon contest. From what I could tell from the shocked faces of the organisers, they weren't expecting him either. Wallace just appeared out of the blue unannounced. His performance together with his luvdisc was so breath-taking that the other performances weren't even worth mentioning. That's how good he was. A powerful trainer, and an outstanding coordinator, that's who Wallace is. It's no secret to the world that Wallace is a pokemon coordinator as well, although he hasn't been participating in pokemon contests ever since he became Champion. Maybe he managed to finally have some free time after finding a successor in Steven Stone?
I walked around Lilycove absently, the night is still young and I don't want to go back to the pokemon center to rest for the night just yet. I spotted a lighthouse facing the sea not far from the Contest Hall, it looked like a good spot to relax together with my pokemon.
I let my pokemon out as I sat on the edge of the cliff where the lighthouse is situated as we enjoyed the sea breeze. I was about to lie on my back to stargaze until I heard someone called my name.
"Velda?"
I turned around, and I saw Winona about 20 meters behind where I was and walking towards me. She dressed casually with only a white long-sleeved shirt and dark blue jeans, different to how she usually looked with her flying suit.
"Winona? Not that I'm unhappy to see you, but what are you doing here?"
Winona gave a huff and smacked me playfully on my shoulder before taking a seat next to me on my right. "Just because I'm Fortree's gym leader doesn't mean that I have to be at Fortree round the clock. I can travel all around Hoenn in my free time, you know. But to answer your question, I was watching my boyfriend's performance at the Contest Hall. The performance just ended and I usually wait for him here after the performances. I'm surprised to see you still here at Lilycove, most trainers will just travel to Mossdeep straight away."
"My team and I are on a vacation. Besides, Lilycove is a nice place to relax. I really love the beach here. The only time I ever enjoyed myself on a beach was at Slateport with my brother, and that was almost a year ago."
"Hmm... I see."
"I was at the Contest Hall too, actually. Which of the contestants is your boyfriend?"
Winona looked a little surprised at the fact that I was also spectating the same pokemon contest as her. But she quickly schooled her features back to normal before giving me a mischievous smirk.
"Take a guess."
"There are at least ten male contestants out there, Winona." I half-whined, half-complained.
"The most number of guesses you will need to make is ten guesses."
"Aww, come on-"
"Winona? Who's that young lady beside you?"
I turned back around once more to see who had interrupted my conversation with Winona, only to experience another shock. What's with my luck in meeting famous people recently? First Agatha, and now him?
My jaws dropped, and I looked at Winona who is now giving me a full-blown grin. I looked back to the source of my shock, who had picked up on the situation and gave me a small smile as well.
I looked back at Winona.
"Wallace? The Wallace is your boyfriend? What? How? WHEN? How did NO ONE knew about this?" I briefly grabbed the sides of my head with both hands as I tried to process what I just saw, and then wrapped both my arms around Winona's left arm. "You are so telling me all about how you two met."
Winona and Wallace both laughed at my reaction. Wallace had walked up to stand beside Winona with his luvdisc floating beside him, under the wary gaze of my pokemon. They were still a little wound up from the unpleasant experience earlier this afternoon and they only let Winona near me because they had known her back at Fortree where we had spent some time with each other. I sent a mental command to Rena with the help of her telepathy to tell my team to stand down. This is Wallace we are talking about. Even disregarding his Champion title, if Winona trusted him enough to let him be her boyfriend, I can put my trust in him too.
"We both met when I first joined ACE. I wasn't a gym leader yet and he wasn't Hoenn's Champion either at that time. Wallace was preparing to take part in his first Ever Grande Conference when I met him. He chose to enlist himself in ACE first to have more time in preparing for it. We only knew each other for a short while at that time, but one thing led to another and we got ourselves into a relationship. He's one of the reasons why I chose to become a gym leader. He inspired me."
Wallace gave a gentle smile at Winona. "I didn't do much, and you are a natural leader. You never flaunt your strength, but use it to help others that needed it. I like that part about you." Winona looked at her own feet with a small blush on her face, probably feeling awkward that Wallace was saying mushy words with me around. I wished that I could have a camera and capture this moment. A blushing Winona is actually pretty cute.
Wallace turned his attention back onto me and my pokemon. "You must be Velda. I recognise these pokemons from the video Winona showed me about the battle between the both of you. You did a splendid job in managing to push her as far as you did. Have you considered joining ACE? Your brother flourished in there, I'm sure you will as well, if you decide to join."
"You know my brother? Oh right, what am I saying. Vance is your second-in-command, isn't he? I still find it hard to believe, to be honest. He falls into all sorts of trouble at home and keep doing stupid things, very different from what I expect from someone in his position. Personally, I don't think I will join ACE, my body's condition won't allow it even if I wanted to. I don't even think my body's condition is suited to join any of the Hoenn League's forces." I paused. Have I told Winona about my body's condition? "I probably will help my parents run the farm when I finish my travels around the world, and then most likely take over the family's business when they retire. My brother is an expert on pokemon breeding as well, but he prefers to battle. That leaves me as the only candidate to take over the farm. It is a pretty fun job actually, if you really do love pokemons."
"A very nice dream to have, Ms Vera. Although I find it a pity that a trainer as talented as yourself not wanting to join the Hoenn League's forces. Your strength will be invaluable to any of them."
"Call me Velda, can I address you as Wallace?"
"You are more than welcome to address me as such, Velda."
"I swear, the both of you are way too formal around each other. Lighten up!" Winona wrapped both her arms around me and Wallance, her right arm around my left, and dragged Wallace with her left arm. She dragged us down the stairs by the cliff that leads to the beach below. "Come on Wallace, you said that you were interested in battling Velda and her swampert. Now's your chance."
I choked on air as Winona said those words. Taking on the Hoenn Champion with Bigblue? That's suicide!
My pokemon followed us down to the beach to where Winona led us. Seeing as there was no way Winona will let me get out of this, I readied myself for a battle with Bigblue as I stood opposite Wallace a far distance away. Lily raised a makeshift rectangular arena made of rocks with her rock techniques for our impromptu battle. It was so well made that it looked no different from a normal arena if you ignore the colour scheme.
Wallace whistled at the sight. "That's impressive. I only saw such precise applications of rock techniques from Roxanne before."
"Roxanne was a great help in helping me figure out how to invent different usages of rock type techniques. I wouldn't have gotten this far without her."
Wallace said nothing else as he released a large milotic out into the battle. His milotic is beautiful, but more than that, it is strong. I can feel the pressure of its strength even from where I was standing.
"You have the first move, Velda."
"Bigblue, Sludge Wave."
I wasted no time in attacking. I had needed my whole team to bring down Winona's dragonite. There's no way for me to bring down Wallace's milotic with only Bigblue. I ran through my options quickly in my mind. The milotic species are known for having recovery moves like Refresh and Recover in its arsenal, so bringing it down by inflicting status ailment is out of the question. Overwhelming it with sheer power is akin to suicide since this is Wallace's milotic we are talking about. We have to play it smart if we even want to have a fighting chance against him. The only thing we can do now is to change the battlefield into our advantage.
Bigblue's Sludge Wave only served as a minor inconvenience as milotic blocked it off by spraying a curtain of water from its mouth.
"Bigblue, Muddy Water! Then Earth Power!"
Bigblue bellowed as he unleashed the mud-filled water out of his mouth towards milotic. He knew I wasn't aiming to damage milotic with Earth Power, but rather to loosened the ground around it for one of his favourite combo. Milotic merely stood there waiting and redirected the Muddy Water to go around her with a flick of its tail, leaving a sphere around her devoid of any water when Bigblue's Muddy Water crashed down.
"Whirlpool!"
The Whirlpool mixed up the mud, rocks, sand, and water all around milotic as it guarded itself from the Whirlpool with a Light Screen. I'm not concerned with that, the aim of Whirlpool is not milotic, but to turn the entire area around her into a swamp, which we did. Bigblue is not fast on land, he is way faster in water, but he is a speed demon when it comes to moving in a muddy swamp.
Milotic barely had time to react when Bigblue suddenly assault it with a Battering Ram. The speed of the Battering Ram was aided by Bigblue's ability to move quickly in swamps. I had decided that the best way for us to fight milotic now would be to engage it in close quarters. Milotics are not known for their ability to fight effectively up close. Bigblue threw Mega Punchs at milotic, hoping to nail it at least once as milotic curled and shifted itself out of harm's way.
Bigblue finally managed to get a Mega Punch onto milotic just as milotic blasted him away with a Water Pulse. Thankfully, Bigblue wasn't inflicted with the confused status that sometimes come with the damage of Water Pulse. Bigblue tried to get close again, only for milotic to blast jets of water at him to force him to back off, managing to push Bigblue off with the strength of the blast even when Bigblue used Battering Ram or Protect. Bigblue tried to raise rocks to trap milotic, only for milotic to demolish them with a single swing of its tail using Brutal Swing every time Bigblue tried to summon rocks. Seeing no other viable options, Bigblue shot Mud Shots at it, forcing milotic to block its attacks. I'm glad to see that milotic had trouble moving freely in the swamp and was forced to block rather than dodge Bigblue's attacks. This gives us a fighting chance, even if it's just a little.
Wait a second, when did milotic's wounds healed itself?
I was watching the entire battle carefully the entire time and not once did milotic used Recover. So how did it heal up from Bigblue's Mega Punch? It left a pretty huge bruise when it first struck. It's gone now. What other recovery moves can the milotic species learn?
I watched milotic carefully as it continued to exchange a series of blows with Bigblue with blasts of water while Bigblue shot mud at it. It was then I saw, the area around milotic was slightly distorted, in a sphere-like manner with milotic in its center. I looked on closer and I realised that milotic actually raised a thin veil of water around itself, but it was so thin that it was almost invisible to the naked eye. I would have missed it if the moonlight didn't reflect off the water veil, which I only caught on by accident.
Aqua Ring. Milotic has to be using Aqua Ring. A near-invisible thin veil of Aqua Ring that acts as a defensive layer and constantly heals milotic without the enemy knowing. It's a smart application of Aqua Ring, using the properties of water and light on top of combining defense and recovery into a single move. It's also probably how milotic escaped unscathed from Bigblue's Muddy Water with the way Muddy Water parted around it. I need to destroy milotic's Aqua Ring or Bigblue will simply tire himself out for nothing.
"Bigblue, Blizzard! Freeze milotic's Aqua Ring!"
Bigblue stopped shooting Mud Shots at milotic, sucked in a deep breath, before releasing a massive snowstorm of ice and snow towards milotic. The ring of water froze and milotic had to get out of it before milotic became a prisoner trapped within the sphere of frozen waters.
"Elise, Blizzard."
If what Bigblue released was a snowstorm of Blizzard, what milotic unleashed was a raging tornado of it. Milotic's Blizzard froze Bigblue immediately, and Bigblue was turned into an ice scuplture within a few seconds. I can't help but inwardly praise milotic's ability to make Bigblue beautiful even when he was encased in ice. The ice clung perfectly to Bigblue's figure, and the resulting image actually looked like a statue of ice in the form of a swampert, just that there is really a swampert in there.
I recalled Bigblue as Wallace recalled his milotic. Wallace's milotic had won the battle with that Blizzard.
Lily lowered the arena and smoothed out the area where Bigblue and milotic fought. Snap used his ground type techniques and buried the swamp deep under the ground and raised up the sands to cover the area. The beach returned to its original state once more, looking as if a battle had never took place. I looked proudly at my pokemon. They had trained very hard to be able to do things like these as if it didn't take any effort. I knew better. To be able to do what they did took a lot of time and effort to practice and thoroughly understand the basic ground and rock type moves before they were able to manage complicated actions like these. It seemed easy, but it is not.
Wallace and Winona had walked up towards me, and Wallace shook my hand.
"That was a good battle. You understood what advantages and disadvantages you faced and reacted accordingly. I'm surprised you noticed Elise's Aqua Ring. Not even Vance noticed that when we battled for the first time, and he is one of the best operatives I have. Your swampert seemed to have a preference for rock and ground type techniques, which is fine. However, it is also a water type. You should spend some time to brush up on its water type techniques. Those water attacks of his could use a lot more work. If your swampert has the same proficiency in its water techniques as his rock or ground type techniques, he will be a formidable foe to face against."
I nodded at Wallace's words as I tried to recap what had happened in our battle. Wallace was right, Bigblue is good with his rock and ground type techniques, even better than many other rock or ground type pokemons we had met on our journey. His usage of water techniques can only be classified as average at best, even when he is a water type pokemon.
"Thank you for your advice. Now that I think about it, we did not train much on Bigblue's water attacks. It was an oversight of my part."
Wallace smiled. "I'm sure you will continue to do a wonderful job in raising your swampert. May I borrow your xtransceiver for a short while?"
I don't know what Wallace wanted to do with my xtransceiver, but I unstrapped it from my wrist and handed it to him anyway. Winona gave me a light pat on the back to congratulate me for a job well done, and I smiled at her in return.
Wallace returned my xtransceiver back to me after fiddling with it. "I am a busy man, but it's also the job of a Champion to guide promising young trainers to grow stronger. If you ever need help in training or learning more about water type pokemons and their techniques, just give me a call or drop me a message. I will try to find time to reply you. Of course, I trust that you will not give my number away to anyone without my permission, unless it is a case of emergency."
I looked down at my xtransceiver to see Wallace's contact number saved in my list of contacts, and looked back up at Wallace with a mixture of surprise and happiness. The Champion of Hoenn actually gave me his personal number!
"Winona and I still have a date to attend to, so we will take our leave now. I will be watching your performance when you eventually take part in the Ever Grande Conference, Velda. We expect great things from you."
Wallace and Winona waved their goodbyes at me before they walked up the stairs on the cliffs and disappeared into the night. I continued to stand on my spot on the beach, trying to get around the fact that Wallace had just gave me his personal contact number. Did we just became friends with each other?
A stupid grin plastered across my face as my team and I slowly made our way back towards the pokemon center to heal Bigblue. I keyed in Vance's contact number on my xtransceiver. I cannot wait to tell him what just happened.
Our week long vacation finally ended. It was an enjoyable break from all the battles and travelling, and we had a lot of fun. I visited the museum, the Pokemon Fan Club, the Lilycove City's Habour and many other places of interests. I also bought souvenirs for my family and the gym leaders I had faced so far and sent their gifts to them via the Taillow Post. All in all, it was a fruitful break.
It was in the morning on our eighth day in Lilycove. I carried my backpack and walked towards the Lilycove beach with Fuzzy on my shoulder and Rena walking by my side. I planned to release Snap on the beach where there is ample space, and let him fly me to Mossdeep for our next gym challenge. It would only take a few hours to reach there by flight.
I was almost at the beach when I heard the roar of a salamence. I looked ahead and saw a salamence flying up high into the air from the beach area. Looks like there are trainers that are really enjoying themselves here. They must be pretty strong too. Not many Hoenn trainers possess a salamence on their team, even when their species are native to Hoenn. They are just that hard to handle.
The salamence kept flying higher as it attracted the curious stares of Lilycove's citizens, who had begun to notice its presence. It hovered in midair high up in the sky, and my eyes widened.
No damn way.
"RUN! THAT SALAMENCE IS USING DRACO METEOR!"
There was no mistaking that move. I had saw many times how a salamence charged up a Draco Meteor when Vance's salamence taught Snap how to use it. That salamence was aiming its Draco Meteor towards the city. This is no attack by an enraged wild pokemon, this is a planned attack by trainers. Draco Meteor is a move that can only be taught to dragons under the tutelage of humans. Snap would not have gotten as far as he is now in Draco Meteor without my help, even if he had salamence's guidance.
The townsfolk around me had heard my warning, and begun to run back towards the center of the city away from the beach to seek shelter. The people on the beach were also trying to run away towards the city after seeing salamence charging up an attack. I heard the sirens blasting as a stampede happened right in front of my eyes, and I had to avoid the townsfolk's' mad rush to safety by running to the side of a nearby building and hide there. I looked up in the sky at the salamence, and I saw a garchomp flying off into the air trying to intercept salamence's attack in time. Someone had decided to try and help save the city.
It's still too late, Draco Meteor had been fired.
The garchomp roared in rage as it engaged the salamence in an aerial battle, pushing it away from Lilycove's airspace. I looked towards the skies and observed the Draco Meteor. The Draco Meteor rained down in a specific direction towards Lilycove as I tried to analyse and predict its trajectory. My eyes widened in horror as I realised that the Draco Meteor is falling towards the Lilycove LSDF office. Someone is trying to take down Lilycove's first line of defense in one fell swoop.
"RENA! CAN YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT DRACO METEOR?"
'I'm trying, Mistress! But there is too many of these falling rocks and they are too far away!'
I released Snap, there's no time to think.
"SNAP! SPLIT LASER BEAM! TAKE DOWN AS MANY METEORS AS YOU CAN! DON'T LET THEM HIT THE TOWN! FUZZY! ASSIST RENA WITH HELPING HAND!"
Snap roared as he flew into the air and charged up a huge Hyper Beam empowered by a Laser Focus. He sent his Hyper Beam towards the meteors, and the beam of energy split further into eight smaller beams of energy as Snap tried to control each individual beam to hit the meteors. His Laser Beam struck and destroyed a large part of salamence's Draco Meteor. The remaining meteors swerved slightly in its trajectory as Rena tried her best to redirect the falling rocks with Psychic with the help from Fuzzy's Helping Hand. She managed to redirect it slightly, but the meteors still rained down on a large part of Lilycove LSDF office, destroying at least half of the building.
FUCK! How many people died in that attack?! Just WHO wanted to stage an invasion on Lilycove?! WHY?!
I recalled Snap. He is too big of a target in the air and I have no idea who the enemies are. I ran back towards the town with Rena and Fuzzy. We need more information on what's happening. The LSDF in Lilycove is as good as a dead magikarp now. The city's best defense has been breached.
Lilycove needs help. But who can help Lilycove now?
My mind suddenly clicked in realisation as I fumbled to find a certain contact number on my xtransceiver. I pressed the call button next to the contact and waited for him to pick up the call.
Pleasepleaseplease just PLEASE pick up the call! Lilycove needs you! Hoenn needs you!
"Velda? Hello there! I wasn't expec-"
"LILYCOVE IS UNDER ATTACK! Wallace! PLEASE! We need your help! The LSDF office in Lilycove has been taken out by an unexpected Draco Meteor! There's no one left to defend Lilycove!"
Wallace's voice turned serious, and he quickly asked. "What happened? Tell me what you know so far."
"It was a salamence. It just flew high up in the air from the beach area so everyone thought it was a trainer letting his dragon out for some fun. It suddenly charged up a Draco Meteor and sent it flying towards the LSDF office. Someone's garchomp went to intercept it, but it's too late. My flygon destroyed a large part of the meteors and my espeon tried to redirect the remaining meteors with Psychic, but we were too far away. At least half of the building is gone."
"I'm assembling my forces as we speak. Keep calm, Velda. Help will be there soon. Do you know who is staging the attack? And who is left to maintain Lilycove's defense?"
I was nearing the city center at this point, and I saw that numerous LSDF officers that were not in the LSDF building for whatever lucky reasons were organising a line of defense a short distance in front of the city's center facing the direction of the beach. Some were trying to guide the remaining Lilycove's citizens to safety towards the shelters. Many trainers had volunteered to stay and help defend Lilycove and I saw some Rangers in the defense too.
Despite the unannounced attack, the surviving LSDF officers were trying to organise a temporary defense force. There's still some hope left.
"I can see a number of LSDF officers that were not in the building trying to build a line of defense and organise a temporary defense force. There's not a lot of them. There are several Rangers present and many trainers have stayed behind to help. I think their first priority is to get the civilians to safety into the shelters, from what I can see." I reached the safety line and I was let in behind the line of defense as I turned around to face the direction of the initial attack. "As for who staged the attack-"
I was cut off as I witnessed a large group of people, at least a hundred of them, in uniforms and charging towards us with their pokemons from the beach.
"Team Aqua." I whispered.
"Velda? Are you still there? Are you alright? Answer me!"
"IT'S TEAM AQUA! THERE'S AT LEAST A HUNDRED OF THEM!"
"DAMN IT! Velda, listen carefully. This is not like the official battles you've been through, it's way different! This battle you will be facing is a life-or-death battle. Reinforcements will be coming soon, so hold on! Don't give up no matter what! Kill the enemies' pokemons and those aquas if you have to! Protect yourself! Remember, it's either them or you! Don't overextend during battles! Your safety should be your first priority, you are not prepared for situations like these! Leave the main bulk of the defense role to the LSDF officers and the rangers, and stick close to an ally! I'm hanging up now! Stay safe!"
With a click our call ended, and I wasted no time in releasing my entire team for battle.
"Velda?! Why are you still here? You should head for the shelters!"
I turned and saw a very worried Officer Haley together with a ninetales and a rhydon running up to me. Thank goodness, she's alive.
"I can't run anymore, my body's too weak to continue doing so. My pokemon can help, even if it is just to provide basic support. I have six gym badges and five of them are earned by defeating the gym leaders in battle. We won't be a liability. If things gets too hot, I will head for the shelters right away, so don't worry about me."
Officer Haley bit her lower lips as she heard what I told her. She looked towards the Team Aqua members charging towards us, there's no time to hesitate.
"You will stay at the very back of the defense line trying to help wherever you can. You are still too young for this, no matter how accomplished a trainer you are. Am I clear?"
"Crystal."
"Good. Prepare your team for battle, the aquas will be reaching our range of fire in less than a minute."
Officer Haley ran back to the front of the defense line, and I turned to my pokemons, who had realised the gravity of this situation we found ourselves in.
'I had already briefed the team about what happened, Mistress.'
"Thank you, Rena. Listen up guys. We are under attack, and our job is to provide support to our allies and buy time for reinforcements to arrive. Try not to friendly-fire our allies. Snap, you are up in the air. Make sure the enemy cannot rain attacks on us from above, they may have flying types. Take them out if you can. Flamel, Dolly, you guys are on sabotage duties. You will go and disrupt the enemies' front-lines for the LSDF and Rangers to take them down. If things gets too dangerous, come back here. Bigblue, Lily, you guys will aid with the defense at the front, keep and eye out for Flamel and Dolly. The rest of you, you are with me in case someone breaks through our line of defense. We will pick them off if that's the case." I took a pause as I tried to calm my breathing. Wallace's words rang in my mind.
'Remember, it's either them or you.'
"You guys are allowed to use lethal force on our enemies. We are at war here. Kill the enemy trainers and their pokemons if you can. Put them down for good, we are severely outnumbered. I am a selfish person. I don't care who else outside of our team dies today, but I want all of you to come back to me alive in one piece when this is over. I will try my best to stay alive as well. You got me?"
My pokemon voiced their promise to me, eyes determined. I turned towards the direction of Team Aqua. Lilycove's temporary defense force has begun to fire its first volley of attacks.
"Let's go, we have a war to fight."