Lazarus and Seth exit the outpost together and are immediately greeted by the sight of pokémon playing under the starless night sky.
Jacob and David are operating a huge grill at their usual camping site. Not far from the outpost.
The four of them prefer to eat outside instead of the cafeteria inside.
"How did it go?" Jacob asks while searing the meat of the Talonflame they killed earlier.
Seth replies, "The connection got cut off mid-conversation, but knowing our boss, he will probably have the league send a team here soon."
David says, "I can't wait to leave this place. I can't take the heat anymore."
Jacob laughs as he elbows David in the chest, "Can't take the heat? Sure bro. I know you're just scared of the Salamence."
David asks, "And you are not?"
"Not as much as you." Jacob smiles at him. "And yeah, I admit even I don't want to fight that thing but if it comes down to it, I will do so."
David retorts, "So will I, but unlike you, I don't get excited about the prospect of having my pokémon fight against things that can kill us all within seconds."
Jacob scoffs at David, "What's there to worry about? We have at least eighteen pokémon among the three of us, along with Chief's Gengar. Dragons are strong, sure, but the Salamence is injured right now. If it comes down to it, I am sure we can defeat it."
"Yes, but victory against dragon's doesn't come cheap," Seth says as he reaches out to his utility belt and unclips all his pokéballs, "I would rather not risk my pokémon dying if I have the choice."
Lazarus watches as Seth releases all his pokémon one by one.
The first one out is a grayish brown avian with white markings around its body. The moment it's out of the pokéball, it lets out a screech, flares its wings, and dives up into the sky.
Seth releases a beige green bipedal pokémon with toxic seeds clustered at the ends of its tail and a huge mushroom on its head.
Breloom happily runs over to join Jacob and David's grass-type pokémon playing near a brightly lit area away from the campfire.
The next one out of the pokéball is a blue pokémon with a white lower half. It is round with huge rabbit-like ears.
Seth pats the Azumarill on its head and releases his Houndoom and Hypno next.
Last one out is a dark purple bipedal pokémon with red eyes, pointy ears, and a huge, roundish body.
It's mouth curls into a sinister grin the moment it's out of the pokéball and runs towards the other pokémon, crackling with laughter.
"So is the food ready or not?" Lazarus asks as he watches the Gengar lick Mr. Mime's face with its huge tongue and running away.
"Yeah, it is. Go and set the tables. Also, can you get your Snover to cool the beers over there?" David says as he points to a pack of beers on top of one of the tables next to the campfire. "They have been out of the freezer for some time now."
Lazarus nods as he pulls out his pokéball, walks over to the temporary dining area, and releases his Snover.
"Scar, generate a weak blizzard there," Lazarus commands his pokémon.
Snover does as it's told and generates a small snowstorm towards the table.
Seth pats Lazarus on his shoulder, "Your pokémon has been inside their balls for too long. Let them out tonight."
"Yeah, I should do that," Lazarus unclips all of his pokéballs and releases them all.
Another avian pokémon joins Staraptor in the sky, as Lazarus's Covisquire, a blue crow-like pokémon with matte black feathers around its face and wing tips, dives into the sky.
A Kirlia comes out next, a mostly white colored bipedal maiden-like pokémon with thin white arms and skinny green legs with pointed feet.
The Kirlia bows to Lazarus before it decides to join Jacob's Excadrill and Luxray.
"Here, carry this," David hands Lazarus a plate of meat, "Put it on the table,"
Lazarus puts the plate of sweet-smelling meat on the table, followed by David, who puts a basket of bread and a basket of berries on top of it.
"So, Lazarus, when are you going to tell your father that you wanna be a pokémon trainer?" Jacob asks Lazarus after they all take their seat at the table.
"I… don't know." Lazarus sighs, "I still have four months left before I can apply for a trainers license.
I tried to think of the best possible time to tell him that, but I don't think there is a perfect time for that.
He wouldn't want me to become one, so I will have to think of a way to convince him fast."
"I definitely wouldn't want to be in your position. Your father is a scary man." Jacob laughs before emptying an entire can of beer into his stomach and then eating a piece of meat with a piece of flat bread.
Seth nods. He understands what Jacob means, already having been on the receiving end of Arthur Hawke's displeasure.
Jacob continues while chewing his food, "I really can't imagine him allowing his only son to become a pokémon trainer.
Hell, if I were in his position and ran the biggest company in Sinnoh, I wouldn't allow my son to risk his life needlessly when he could run the company instead."
"I don't get it," David says after he takes a sip of his beer.
Lazarus, Seth, and Jacob turn to look at him.
"Aren't you a billionaire? You can choose to do anything in the world. You can probably choose any career you want. So why do you want to become a pokémon trainer of all things?
What reason could you possibly have to want to choose such a dangerous profession?" David asks him, confused.
Jacob frowns, "What do you mean why! People don't need a reason to want to become a pokémon trainer? There is nothing else more noble than this.
Didn't you always want to fight alongside your Pokémon when you were young? Have you never had–"
David scoffs, "No, not all of us want to die early. You are just retarded."
Which makes everyone sitting at the table laugh, Jacob included.
And then David turns to look at Lazarus, curious to hear his answer.
"Well… It's because I want to be like my mother," Lazarus says with a smile, thinking about his mother always brings a smile to his face.
Lazarus continues, "In fact, I have always wanted to be like her. When I was little, I would dream of nothing but that. She inspired me to want to protect people, just the way she did.
I know I can help people by becoming a good businessman, but the way she did it…
I remember no matter how anxious or scared I was about something, just her presence alone was enough to make me feel safe.
I want to be that person for other people. I want to be the one they look towards when things get scary, the one they count on to keep them safe."
Jacob smiles and nods, "Your mother had that effect on everyone. I wish I had the honor of meeting her. I don't think there is anyone in Sinnoh who wouldn't want that. She was one of the greatest, ever, there is no question about that."
Seth and David nod at that.
Over the next few hours, the four of them all talk, eat, and laugh among themselves, they share stories about their childhood and their dreams for the future.
Eventually, when tired, they go back inside the outpost, but make sure to leave some of their pokémon outside to patrol the area.
—
Deep inside the caverns near the outpost, the Dragon stirs awake, ending its months-long hibernation.
It opens its eyes, and the interior of the nest, lit by the warm yellow glow of the lava, reflects in its eyes.
It stretches its tail, gets up on all four legs, and lets out a small torrent of flame from its mouth.
Then it walks over to a pool of bubbling lava, dips its head inside, and grabs the dark brown egg incubating within the lava with its draconic jaws.
The average fire pokémon would have had it's flesh melted right off it's face if it did what the Salamence just did, but Dragon's are not average, none of them are.
Sunfyre pulls the egg out and places it down, inspecting and observing its condition before putting it back into the pool of lava.
Feeling hungry and running out of energy, it decides to head out of the cave to consume enough food to last another five months of hibernation.
—
A Staraptor flies in the sky, making spinning aerial maneuvers while being chased by a Corvisquire.
They both circle the sky, playing a game of tag with each other while also patrolling the skies for any threats to the outpost.
Corvisquire barely manages to keep up with the fully evolved Staraptor.
Staraptor slows down, letting Corvisquire catch up to it.
Suddenly, they both hear an earth-shattering roar and turn their eyes to look at the source.
Staraptor, with its sharp eyesight, manages to spot a humongous draconic beast coming out of its lair.
The sight of the creature prompts both Staraptor and Corvisquire to flee in panic. They both dash towards the outpost at full speed, not willing to spend even second in the presence of that thing.
Sunfyre sees them flee but does not give chase, disinterested in either of the two pokémon flying in the sky.
Instead, it draws energy from its cells and coalesces it within its maws, and with another roar, Sunfyre shoots the charged beam of concentrated white energy at the sky.
The Hyper Beam tears through the sky like a column of white light, and the shockwave from the attack blasts away the gray clouds that are always plaguing the Fumelands.
And the residual heat from the attack is felt by trembling wild pokémon miles away. The few that still haven't escaped.
—
Lazarus violently jolts awake from his sleep, "What the fuck was that?"
He hurriedly gets out of bed, grabs his utility belt from the bedside table, and goes out of the room, and finds himself in the main hallway.
He sees everyone in the outpost scrambling about to make sense of the situation.
He sees Seth and runs up to him, "What the fuck is going on? What was that roar!"
"I have no fucking idea, but I can guess," Seth says and keeps walking towards the control room.
Realization dawns on Lazarus, 'The Salamence!' He thinks before asking, "So what's the plan?"
"Find Jacob, he was on watch duty today. We need to figure out what the fuck is going on before we decide what to do."
Seth and Lazarus hurry towards the control room. They enter to find Jacob inside, looking through a video feed on the monitor.
Seth orders, "Jacob. I need a report on what the hell is going on. And make it quick."
Jacob turns to Seth and says in wonder, "Chief, holy fuck! Look at this. Something just lit up the entire fucking sky."
He rewinds the video captured by one of the outpost's surveillance cameras pointed towards the sky.
The video footage shows the dull gray night sky suddenly erupting into light, as if night were suddenly torn away by the day without warning.
"Where is David?" Seth looks around, "Call him, we need to send out all our pokémon if we want to keep the people here safe."
"Do we really have to fight that thing?" Lazarus asks, worried, "Shouldn't we just stay here and wait it out?"
"No, we can't stay here. Dragons have a habit of destroying anything that stands out to them.
So if Salamence sees the outpost, the first thing it will do is raze it to the ground." Seth turns to look at Jacob, "Get everyone inside the rovers. We are abandoning the outpost. We need to send Lazarus and the researchers out of here."
"Where are we going to send them?" Jacob asks.
"Doesn't matter. Anyplace that is not here. Just drive away from this place, under the mountains or something."