The doors opened to reveal Grant, Korrina, and a handful of other Trainers with backpacks brimming with medical and rescue supplies. "Marco! Oh my gosh, thank you for joining us!" Korrina exclaimed, rushing in for a hug. Grant grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. He shook his head when she turned to look at him, and she stepped back.
"Are you sure you're ready for this? You only have Swinub, right?" he asked.
"I don't know if I'm ready with just Boaris," I said. "But I can't just sit back after experiencing first-hand the shit Team Flux is willing to do." My face twisted as I spoke.
He nodded. "We don't have all the details, but our system picked up several emergency pings from Reflection Cave and the Rangers that initially went to investigate have stopped responding."
"One of the last messages," Korrina continued, "included a picture of a group of Trainers being corralled by Team Flux. We've identified one of them as Admin Ada. Grant and I are going to deal with her, but we can't focus on keeping the Trainers safe at the same time. Some of my Gym Trainers will meet us there, but I have a couple of Pokémon willing to follow others temporarily, if you want to work with them."
"I'll think about it. How are we getting there?" I asked. I thought back to when I met Ada in Lumiose. Her underlying threat wormed its way to the front of my mind.
"My Gallade and Medicham will teleport us right outside of Reflection Cave," Korrina answered. "We'll be meeting my Gym Trainers and then going in."
"Alright, I'm good to go," I said, turning to my Pokétch. I looked through Boaris' moves. The variety was great because he had options for a lot of scenarios, but that made it harder to pick where to specialize. It wouldn't hurt to have a jack-of-all-trades, but a Mamoswine not being an absolute physical beast was wasted potential.
I felt an odd tugging sensation at the base of my neck before my body flipped inside out and reverted itself in a fraction of a second. I gasped, a sudden vertigo passing through my brain just as quickly as the teleportation. When I looked up from my phone, we were outside of Reflection Cave. Korrina's Gym Trainers walked over to us with a handful of shrunken PokéBalls each. "Here you go, Korrina. All seven Pokémon are aware of what's going on and ready to help."
"Good. Marco, would you like to pair up with one or two?" she asked as she released the Gym-trained Pokémon. She had a varied group: Two Sawk, a Hitmonchan, a Breloom, a Poliwrath, a Pangoro, and a Pawmo appeared alongside her one of her Kommo-o, Gallade, and Medicham. The only ones that didn't straight up ignore me were the Hitmonchan and Pawmo. While Pawmo happily waved at me, the Hitmonchan scoffed and turned their back to me. "I guess that answers my question."
"Yeah, we'll be alright. Does Pawmo have a name?" I asked, squatting down and reaching out to shake their furry paw with a finger. I smiled as a small electric current ran through my hand.
"Not officially, but she was happy enough when a challenger called her Minnie," one of the Gym Trainers answered.
"Alright, then I look forward to working with you Minnie," I smiled down at the Pikachu clone. Minnie the Pawmo cried out in excitement and jumped onto my shoulder. "I'll have you meet Boaris, one of my other Pokémon. I'm sure he'll be happy to have a new friend."
I released Boaris and let him play with Minnie as I half-listened to the plan Grant and Korrina were explaining to their Trainers. They wanted me to escort the group out of the cave while they dealt with Team Flux. It sounded easy, but there was always something that could go wrong. That's why I was studying Minnie's moves while I could.
Mach Punch, Bullet Punch, Quick Attack, Fake Out, Drain Punch, the elemental punches, Mega Punch, and Shadow Punch, combined with Iron Fist, meant she was hitting fast and hard. Adding Dig, Detect, Wish, Thunder Wave, Rest, Electric Terrain, Substitute, and Natural Cure as a second ability gave her the ability to outlast an opponent in a fight of attrition. Two simple and straightforward styles that, used correctly, could devastate most Trainer teams.
If Boaris could add effective ranged cover with Mud-Slap, Ice Shard, and Ancient Power, we could easily shield the Trainers from any stray Flux Grunt. 'I should use Boaris as machine gun again,' I thought to myself.
"Alright, looks like we're set. Are you ready?"
I nodded. "Let's do it."
We entered Reflection Cave, and I immediately got confused and bumped into the mirror-like wall. One of Korrina's Trainers snorted.
"I guess we just bring along anyone nowadays."
I didn't even look at the Trainer. I focused on the path, learning to differentiate the mirrors from the path. As we traveled through the cave, I thought about what Calem and Professor Sycamore had told me about my future being full of getting involved in shit. Things were ramping up. Team Flux was dangerous in a different way than the Teams before them. Teams Aqua and Magma, Galactic, Plasma, and Flare wanted to change the world and didn't care of others died in in the process or aftermath. Team Flux were actively harming or killing Trainers and Pokémon alike.
My hands tightened into fists. Boaris and Minnie both looked up, noticing my reaction. Before I could reassure them, sirens suddenly started blaring. It surprised all of us except for Korrina's Gallade and Medicham, who set up both Light Screen and Reflect before the powerful dome of Protect surrounded us.
A split second after, a Scizor blitzed into the barrier and left a large crack in the shield of Normal-Type Energy. The previously dimly lit cave brightened up an instant later, leaving most of us blind as our Pokémon held a Protect under the unwavering assault.
The sounds and lights left me disoriented as the chaos ramped up. Korrina and Grant shouted over the sirens, Team Flux screamed in their efforts to keep us from organizing, and, as my eyes adjusted to the brightened cave, I noticed the Trainers we came to save were pushed into the middle of everything.
We were being pushed back effectively as Korrina and Grant's Gym Trainers held back from fighting at full power as they saved the group of hostages from Flux's attacks. Korrina and Grant themselves were keeping the strawberry blonde I met in Lumiose busy. That left me as the only person capable of helping the unfortunate Trainers, but everywhere I looked was a mesh of Pokémon and Trainers I could barely distinguish as friends or foes as they collided with each other or their attacks. It was a warzone.
'Why the fuck am I here?' I questioned the insanity of both Korrina and Grant's thought process. That didn't stop me from picking Boaris up and gesturing at Minnie the Pawmo to climb onto my shoulder.
"Boaris, you're going to Ice Shard and Mud-Slap anything I point you towards. If I hold you close to my chest, don't attack. Minnie, I want you to buff yourself up as much as you can. Attack anything that gets passed Boaris or too close to the Trainers we're saving. Come back to my shoulder if you get hurt or it's too crazy to do anything," I directed the two. "We're gonna get to Trainers to safety. Are you ready?"
"Mo!"
"Swiiii!"
"Alright, let's do this!"
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[Unknown POV, Lumiose City]
"Am I supposed to know what this means?" an older gentleman sneered from his desk. His rotund, aristocratic features twisting into a sneer. His power, gained from the wealth he'd amassed through business deals and his position as the mayor of Lumiose City shielded him from the two Trainers presenting their case.
At least, that was what went through his mind every time he found himself facing Calem Xavier and Augustine Sycamore, the Kalos Champion and Regional Professor. Despite the arrogance, he still had to suppress the inevitable shaking from being under their scrutiny. Especially with Calem's ace staring at him from his side as if it could see every action and thought he'd ever made.
"If you had listened to the Professor's message before this meeting, then yes," the Kalos Champion scoffed. "This is going to affect Kalos on a scale that makes the Ultimate Weapon look like a Magikarp's Splash."
"And you expect me to do anything about it? Aren't you the Champion?" Mayor Beaumont spat. "Or are you too weak to handle it?"
"Let us not hope it comes down to a match of brawn, monsieur," Augustine answered. "The results of various studies I collected for you show that something has already invaded our world."
"Invaded?" the Mayor froze. "What do you mean?"
"Just how Alola had the Ultra Beast incident, something that has come to Kalos from another dimension," Calem took over. "We have been tracking energy spikes throughout the region because we thought a Legendary was running amok. But I've been in contact the Champions of other regions, and they've accounted for all Legendaries. Then we were told about an interdimensional wormhole that didn't connect to Ultra Space and...
"And what?" Mayor Beaumont whispered, hooked on his words.
"A warning from Arceus, Cyril," Augustine finished. "We were warned by Arceus to stay away from the other end of the wormhole. And now it is here, parmi nous."
"So, what shall we do about it?"
Calem's Meowstic launched towards the voice, Psychic energy enveloping his body as he snarled at their sudden visitor. To Augustine's astonishment, and Calem's horror, the Psychic energy splashed harmlessly off of the man as if it had no effect whatsoever.
"Thank Arceus your Pokémon is able to control itself, Calem," Cyril Beaumont said, relief flooding his words. "It wouldn't do to have you harm my newest investor."
A tall, broad-shouldered man stepped into the room, a tuft of perfectly trimmed chestnut hair slightly wavering as he moved. His square jaw curled into what was supposed to be a smile but only served to increase the two Trainers' unease. Calem's glare hardened as his and his Meowstic's eyes shared a similar glow. Augustine grew uncomfortable with Calem's gaze, but he trusted in the Champion's judgement.
Cyril continued, oblivious to the tension growing in the room. "This is Mister Samuel Hayden, a revolutionary scientist. We have come together in partnership for the betterment of Kalos."
Samuel smiled, and the room grew colder for the two Trainers. "A pleasure to meet the two of you. I can't wait to help usher in a new era for your world."
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A/N: Hey y'all, quick update. I appreciate those of you who are still reading the story. It means a lot that people think it is interesting enough to read and wait for updates. That being said, I've had a hard time staying motivated to write and upload chapters. I started this fanfic for fun, but it's been feeling more like work and I'm already swamped at my job. That's why updates have been super slow. However, I've also noticed a lack of engagement with uploads, which is fair. I'm not consistent and don't reply often enough to warrant it. However, I've recently also had issues with even signing into WebNovel since switching to a new phone switching the OS to GrapheneOS. I love it, and it's working for me. It's also making it hard to continue with my previous Google-fication of my life, which I am actively trying to remove. With that being said, I am not going to upload on WebNovel each time I finish a chapter. I might upload a few at a time, but I'm not going to focus on WebNovel. RoyalRoad is going to get the consistent uploads since that has been much easier to log into because I didn't use Google. Sorry for those of you who only use WebNovel, but c'est la vie. I hope yall continue finding stories you love on here.