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Let's celebrate Thousand Roads' seventh anniversary! We've got two weeks of fun events lined up for both our forum and Discord communities. Check out the main event thread for more information and to get the latest event updates. If you're looking for somewhere to get started, why not review a few fics for our mini Review Blitz or get inspired with Drabble Bingo?
Seventh Anniversary Drabble Bingo
- Thread starter Negrek
- Start date
zion of arcadia
too much of my own quietness is with me
- Pronouns
- she/her
- Partners
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@Zdrmonster
Sorry for the delay in getting you your card! We've got some eevee, some zorua, some ditto, and some Go-Getters, so hopefully you'll find plenty of good options here.
@The Walrein
Hard to know what sort of prompts might inspire you, but I did my best! If just one of these gets you interested in writing a drabble, I'll consider it a job well done.
@StellarWind @Nekodatta @canisaries @zion of arcadia Congratulations on finishing your cards! I've added them to the first post, and you can claim your companion prizes by posting in the main anniversary thread.
Sorry for the delay in getting you your card! We've got some eevee, some zorua, some ditto, and some Go-Getters, so hopefully you'll find plenty of good options here.
| Sinister Mimicry | Night Daze | Sinister Cave |
| Corsola Twig | Evolution Stone | A Successful Rescue! |
| A New Body | Unstable Species | Terrific Trio |
@The Walrein
Hard to know what sort of prompts might inspire you, but I did my best! If just one of these gets you interested in writing a drabble, I'll consider it a job well done.
| Missingno. | Tumblecube Island | The Legendary Chinese Pokémon |
| Post Town's Biggest Gossip | Volbeat the Narcissist | Glorious Gold |
| Paradox Pokémon | Cyrus' Perfect Universe | Obstagoon and Aesthetics |
@StellarWind @Nekodatta @canisaries @zion of arcadia Congratulations on finishing your cards! I've added them to the first post, and you can claim your companion prizes by posting in the main anniversary thread.
Zdrmonster
Bug Catcher
- Pronouns
- he/him or they/them
Phoenixsong
beh!
- Partners
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Thanks! Got a diagonal bingo, and went ahead and posted them (along with some other unrelated ones) here.
Goolix
Pokémon Trainer
- Partners
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Did my task as you asked!
| Use it or lose it | Ever fleeting, our first meeting | Out of style in a while |
| Dreams we planned were made of sand | If you can't do the time, don't do the crime | A Stitch in Time Saves Nine |
| May be Old, But it's Still Gold | Isn't it a hassle, living in a castle? | Fake it till you make it |
- Partners
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Here's my blackout bingo. Still going to need some editing but not unprecedented (and I still have one from elsewhere to edit).
Starlight Aurate
Ad Jesum per Mariam | pfp by kintsugi
- Location
- Route 123
- Partners
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Do I have time to request a card still? Preferrably with themes "ancient" or "exploration." Thanks!
For everybody working towards a bingo: you have about a day to go before the anniversary ends! Good luck if you're working towards a prize!
@Starlight Aurate You bet! Enjoy!
@aer @Zdrmonster @Phoenixsong @System Error Congratulations on completing your cards! I've added your names to the first post.
@Starlight Aurate You bet! Enjoy!
| Precipice | A Thousand Years of Dust | Compass |
| Unfamiliar Constellations | Legendary | Mysterious Artifact |
| Silent Tomb | Hadal Zone | Poem in a Forgotten Tongue |
@aer @Zdrmonster @Phoenixsong @System Error Congratulations on completing your cards! I've added your names to the first post.
Inkedust
Harbinger of Sunrise
Grabbed myself a bingo, link here. Disappointed that I couldn't get a blackout like I'd wanted, but sometimes the words just don't go. Fully intend to finish the whole card in the coming days, though.
Spiteful Murkrow
Busy Writing Stories I Want to Read
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
- Partners
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Whelp, I wound up doing a bit less editing than I'd like, but I figured that I'll have a few weeks to do proper quality control for my drabbles this year, and wanted to leave room to do other things before TRversary ends this year. It's been a bit of an annual tradition of mine since starting Drabble Bingos here, but I'm here with a card blackout with a total of 9 drabbles this year.
Those of you who read my Drabble Bingo card last year, or else my recent activity on-site likely know where this is going already. Like last year's card, this year's drabbles are provided in chronological order with some pretty big S/V spoilers in some of them. I made an attempt at giving warnings for the particularly frontal ones, but consider this a caveat lector in advance.
Anyhow, let's get straight into this year's drabbles about zooming and grooving along with a very bike-y buddy:
That playlist from Chispa’s going again, this time with a thumping beat which intermixes with high-pitched chimes. You’re in Ride Mode, but not going anywhere fast in this search for clues, as you stand and tap your claws impatiently, eyes trained on a blue Squawkabilly resting on a helmeted human.
Juliana’s grip on your harness tightens and can hear her and Lucas grumbling. You can’t really blame them, it’s late at night in this town and the local gym’s about to close. Juliana apparently has to order food to start the next challenge, except the last thing she ordered wasn’t good enough.
“¡Pa dos! ¡Pa dos!”
Juliana suddenly lets out a cry before tugging you forward. She doesn’t even get the words out before you spin your Hadron Engine up and rocket off.
You zoom along down a largely street lined with mostly brick buildings. You’re a little curious how that Squawkabilly learned to speak human, but now’s not the time.
“‘Fire Blast’ and ‘for two’? Seriously, how are those even hints?”
You glimpse back briefly as your second Quaxwell passenger pinching his brow. You don’t think that that’s entirely fair. You figured out that it was other students from Uva Academy that had hints for what the Treasure Eatery’s secret recipe was.
And as the brief glimpse of that ancient theater where Juliana apparently found that last clue behind a grated-off section reminds, those other students from her lab aren’t just making things up.
… Except you all still have no idea what the gym wants Juliana to order.
And there’s not much time left to figure it out.
Juliana tugs your harness right, as you see a corner by the local gym’s reception building and enter a skidding slide. You lean in as you round the corner and even out just in front of a set of bollards that whip by you—belonging to a park that apparently continues off into wild plains outside this town.
You push your Hadron Engine as your thrusters roar and the scenery flies by, along with a couple passersby who turn their heads after you. Even if it’s not necessarily convenient for the gym challenge, you certainly wouldn’t be able to race around like this if it was earlier and more crowded.
All the while, your attention keeps drifting leftward and off into the park and wilds beyond. Could there be another student with a hint for the secret dish out there?
Except, Juliana got her eyes trained in the opposite direction. Deeper into… ‘Pueblo Mestura’. Or Medali—the town’s called one of those two.
There’s a crackle from the mount along your right harness, as Chispa pipes up with a sharp buzz.
“Given the time, I think we’re better off checking someplace closer to that Treasure Eatery,” he says. “Maybe there’s others with the same idea.”
You can’t see his screen, but just you approach a tall warehouse, you see her—
A little human girl—probably just a neonate—in Juliana’s school outfit. Maybe it’s a bit desperate of you, but…
“Hey! Wait!”
You hurriedly turn right and down the street, the surroundings flying by until you’re coming to a rolling stop by a small plaza as the girl. Juliana dismounts and runs up after her, when the tyke suddenly turns around with a Pokéball in her hand and a determined glint in her eyes.
“Oye, ¿tú también estás haciendo el examen de gimnasio?”
The two trade words with each other, before backing away and clearing space, as Juliana turns her attention back towards you and calls for Lucas to come forward.
“Right, looks like that’s my cue,” the Quaxwell says.
He hurries over just as the little girl sends out a Gumshoos—a sign that she’s not going to let that hint go without a battle as your heart suddenly sinks.
You’re not worried your teammates can win, but do they have time to?
A quick glimpse right reveals Chispa’s and Juliana’s phone are still on your right harness’ mount. She clearly was in a rush if she just out-and-out forgot about him.
“Chispa, aren’t there any other places we can find hints?”
“I mean, maybe a Pokémon might know,” he answers. “Since that Squawkabilly knew a hint, didn’t he?”
… That’s right, he did. Except, where would other Pokémon like that even be?
You briefly glimpse Lucas hitting the Gumshoos with a watery pulse, as your attention drifts elsewhere—the street you came from, the Treasure Eatery on the other side, and off down the road, a tall white neon light shaped like a Pokéball.
Wait, that’s it! Pokémon Centers always have a bunch of trainers around them! You get back on your rings and wheel around, zooming ahead with a booming woosh. The distance flies by in a flash, and before you know it, you’re screeching to a stop in front of it.
But… there’s barely anyone there right now…
“Whuh? What’s that racket?”
You turn around as the song’s chorus plays again. There’s a pair of Cyclizar rousing under a nearby steel awning, one of whom’s a strange tan color. A rental stand—you learned from a Cyclizar you quite literally ran into that they often get around a lot with their renters.
Maybe… just maybe, one of those two would know something about it.
“Hey! Hey!”
You hurriedly roll over on your rings, and come to a rolling stop as the two’s eyes widen and their mouths flop open in shock.
“You’re from around here, right? Do you happen to know anything about that secret item at the Treasure Eatery?”
There’s a moment of stunned silence as the tan Cyclizar’s stiff as a board, while the other trades a befuddled stare.
“Uh… not… really?” the green Cyclizar says.
“I mean, it’s called ‘secret’ for a reason,” the tan one adds.
… Oh. You droop and pin your horns back. You knew it was a long shot, but—
“How about places where challengers go to find hints?” a buzzing voice cuts in.
You look to your right, as Chispa’s floated out of Juliana’s phone and is zipping about beside your snout. The tan one blinks, before speaking up.
“I mean, there’s those ice cream stands in front of the Treasure Eatery,” he says. “They apparently take turns hiding clues for the Gym Challenge.”
Maybe you jumped to conclusions a bit too fast.
“Thank you so much,” you say. “You might’ve just saved my trainer’s Gym Challenge.”
You pop back onto your rings and race off again, going around the bend and down the street to the plaza.
You come rolling up just as Juliana’s talking with the young girl again, as you go up and nudge at her, your voice coming out in an excited titter.
“Juliana! Juliana! There’s a clue—”
“At the ice cream stands, we just found out.”
You see Lucas walking up, his feathers a bit mussed and scuffed. Did… he get through that battle in the little time you were gone? But it’d just been a minute!
“I don’t know how we’re going to narrow things,” he sighs, shaking his head. “Since there’s multiple ice cream stands right here.”
He motions off at the other end of the square. Sure enough, there’s two ice cream stands flanking one selling crepes.
You pace over, and as you near, catch the scent of something savory with a hint of lemon coming from the rightmost one. You make your way up, Juliana following after you as she sees what you do—
There among the ice cream, there’s grilled rice balls with lemon wedges.
“I… think we know what to order now.”
“You alright there, Wheels? You’re kinda spacing out right now.”
You shake and lift your head as Chispa’s buzzing lingers over human words saying something about a ‘disk’ and a thumping beat that fills your ears from the pair of red headphones over them.
Right, Juliana left them with you before this last battle started, as a sharp cry from just ahead reminds you as you get back onto your feet amid morning drowsiness.
You’re just surprised this couldn’t wait until later in the day. The sun’s not even all the way up yet! Today’s battlefield’s that street beside that big park in Medali. Nemona’s to your left, Juliana’s to your right, while Rosa—now a Tinkatuff—and that Pawmo with Nemona grapple in between.
“¡Carantoña!”
The Pawmo barely has the time to react as a sudden swirl of pinkish dust kicks up and there’s a sharp clang. He goes tumbling back as Rosa follows through her hammer’s swing. That drowsiness is gone now as you brace for the Pawmo to spring up, when he raises a paw with a dazed groan.
“Boy and I thought Doll-Eyes threw a mean punch…”
You’ll take that as a sign that he’s down for the count, which is confirmed just afterwards by a ray of red light recalling him back to a Pokéball in Nemona’s hand. It was a victory hard-fought for Rosa.
She pants slightly from fatigue, before Juliana recalls the Tinkatuff herself, her own actions being followed by a woman in a black suit with long, flowing hair that reminds you of the Glimmora you’d see around your old lab—Ságita, you think.
“¡Ja, ja, ja! Súper, está viendo esto? ¡Me tiene acorralada!”
The music picks up, with lyrics and an almost roaring chime as Nemona fetches a last Pokéball around her waist, laughing and smiling.
… But why? She and her team are about to lose. Again. Her team’s outnumbered by Juliana’s and everyone knows who she’ll send out next…
“¡Adelante, Julio!”
She sends out her own starter—Julio, she calls him as Juliana does the same with Lucas on her end. It only takes a moment to realize that something’s wrong as Julio materializes—not as a Crocalor, but a large red-and-white creature on all fours with skeleton-like markings and something looking like a fiery bird on his head…
“Whuh?! When’d you evolve?!”
On their end of the battlefield, Lucas is staring with his beak agape, the Quaxwell’s expression mirrored by Juliana, which Julio’s just eating right up.
“What, no background music this time, Lucas?” the Skeledirge says. “Shame, since Skeledirge were made for battling to a beat!”
That… would explain Nemona’s earlier confidence.
“El cuerpo me pide teracristalizar a mi pokémon ¡Hay que impresionar a la súper!”
Your attention goes back to Nemona’s end of the battlefield as she pulls her arm down from a cheer and to her side, that glowing Tera Orb in her grasp as your breath catches briefly. She briefly recoils from the light before tossing it forward over Julio as glowing crystals overtake.
They shatter, a second crash coming from Juliana and Lucas’ end as he Terastalizes, too. Those shapes over their heads fade, leaving a blue crystalline sheen on Lucas’ body, and a fiery orange on Julio’s.
There’s still a hint of unease to Juliana and Lucas’ face, but the Quaxwell looks much more focused now, as he bounces on his feet as Nemona’s voice cuts through the air with a cry:
“¡Hora de darlo todo! ¡A ver si eres capaz de aguantar el tipo!”
She gestures ahead, Julio’s Pokéball in hand, before calling out again:
“¡Canto Ardiente!”
That one catches everyone off guard, even Chispa, as he bobbles with a startled buzz.
“Bzzt! What sort of move is-?”
The ‘bird’ on Julio’s head suddenly flies up and an almost fiery spike extends down. Lucas runs up, water starting to wreathe his wings but the Skeledirge just ignores him, rearing up as he sings out a bellowing note.
And much to your astonishment, the “bird” suddenly zips forward and hits Lucas in the chest. He stumbles back briefly, brushing back some singed feathers with a dismissive scoff.
“Spitting fire at me? Really, Julio?”
Lucas takes off, lunging ahead with an Aqua Cutter at Juliana’s command, throwing watery blades before falling back.
Maybe you worried over nothing, since that does seem like a strangely clumsy mistake for Nemona and Julio to make. Though why have they kept coming back when they haven’t won a single battle since Juliana and Nemona first met…?
Since nothing good came of it when you tried doing the same…
“Yeow!”
You snap to attention as Lucas shoots back from a stream of dark-colored rings. He hits the ground and rolls onto his knees past the woman in the suit, panting wide-eyed as he looks across the battlefield.
“H-How?!”
“Torch Song,” Julio smirks. “It always gets my fighting spirit burning!”
The suit lady remarks something about things being impressive and grimace. So Julio’s first attack wasn’t a mistake. From the wide-eyed expression on Juliana’s face, it caught her off-guard almost as much as it did Lucas.
Your friends are in a corner now. One that you’re not sure how they’ll get out of.
Except, you know that they can win. And the way forward’s in your ears and floating right beside you. You turn to the Rotom in Juliana’s phone, and speak in a hurried tone.
“Chispa, can you—”
“Way ahead of you, Wheels,” the Rotom buzzes. “Just help me get up high.”
Up… high? You could jump, but you’d just come back down…
Unless…
Just as Chispa switches over the song to speaker, you rear up, sweeping the Rotom Phone up in your foreclaws as you hoist him up in between your claws and over your head with a clear view of the entire emptied street.
The suit lady’s blinking and shooting you a befuddled frown.
“Qué estais haciendo?”
The music’s starting to fade out, but you can already see it having an effect on Lucas. There’s an extra spring in his step, while Julio looks strangely happy himself.
“Oh, so there’s the music. You’re playing with fire there, Lucas.”
You’ll see about that. The Skeledirge might fight with music himself, but you doubt it’s the same music you’ve all been hearing during your journey.
“Put on the next song, Chispa.”
You turn your head as an electronic trill and echoing words fills your headphone and the surrounding desert air. Was it really coincidence that Chispa started up the next song on the playlist? Your claws are in the sand but tense, as your attention follows what’s almost like a big, silver-and-red wheel racing along the dunes.
“The heck is that?
As the music picks up, Lucas gives a baffled quack from your back. You can feel from their movements that both he and Juliana are turning to try and get a better look at the figure racing off.
One that you’re already familiar with:
“That Titan we’ve been looking for, hang on.”
You clamp your claws in place onto your forward ring and hips, before spinning off and rocketing off after it. It’s an ‘Iron Treads’, or at least as Turo would call it. One of the Pokémon that he brought over to live around your last lab with that machine he was working on.
You know a few things about them from the ones you’ve seen, and the ones you would sometimes chase off if they were getting in the way of the Research Stations. They have Hadron Engines like you. They don’t really battle for fun like your friends do.
And they’re not supposed to be anywhere near this big.
The Iron Treads slows and spins in place, as the red blur becomes perceptible bands of red and black. It suddenly pops up, its weight hitting the desert sand on four short, steely legs with a loud thump as the treads encircling its body split and unfurl into a trunk and tail.
You’re just noticing it, but those ‘Donphan’ that roll around this desert look weirdly similar to—
A startled cry from Juliana and sharp tugs at your harness prompts you forward. You quickly see why: the Iron Treads’ zooming along and passing large rock formations in a leftward arc. Faster than you can hope to catch up with…
If you chase directly after it, anyways. Juliana’s already steering you leftwards as you wrench the forward half of your body to follow, leaning in as your rear ring swings wide and skids and throws a plume of sand behind. You briefly hear Lucas cry out but he stifles it as you blast your thrusters forward.
The sand and desert rocks fly as the hum of your Hadron Engine almost drowns the music in the air. You throw your body out into a skidding stop and plant your feet as the Iron Treads approaches. You squint and crouch, before throwing your jaws open with a loud roar.
GWAAAOOOR!
The Iron Treads comes to a dead stop and unfurls. For a moment, you think it’s wavering like the smaller ones might’ve back at your last lab after a roar like that. Except it digs in and raises its trunk, revealing red optical diodes narrowed into a harsh glare.
“Shut your face, you stupid skink!”
He answers your roar with his own, metallic and forceful enough to make the ground shake, along with you as Lucas and Juliana slide off you and you’re suddenly getting doubts. An Iron Treads isn’t anything that you couldn’t handle back then. But you still can’t fight. And this one’s so big. A-And—
Ro-to-to-to!
“Hola Juliana, soy Turo.”
You sigterm your thoughts. Chispa’s floating before Juliana as that voice that’s not quite Turo’s starts talking.
… Why’s he calling again? And why does he keep pretending he’s Turo?
“...Ten mucho cuidado te enfrentes a él, de acuerdo?”
And almost as quickly, he’s gone with a dial tone.
“No wait! Chispa! Call him ba-!”
“¡Lucas, Danza Acuática!”
The ground’s rumbling as you look ahead and everything happens so fast. Lucas peppering the Iron Treads and Lucas is hopping back after peppering the Iron Treads’ side with watery feathers. The Iron Treads’ seething buzzing as it barrels forward in a straight line.
Straight for Juliana.
“Juliana!”
You bite down on her backpack and yank her out of the way and all but throw her onto your back. The Iron Treads zooming just past before it pops up again and stomps the ground with a sharp tremor.
Sand and stones fly up, you definitely felt that attack.
You shakily get onto your rings and rocket forward, almost toppling from a few lingering tremors, your breaths coming uneasy and tense. Off to your right, you feel rumbling again and hear Lucas cry out. He jumps out of the way of a headbutt carrying a steely glint from the Iron Treads, and answers with a parting Water Pulse that doesn’t quite hit its mark as the Titan Pokémon skids and awkwardly stomps in place to try and turn around.
You follow Juliana’s tugging and skid to a stop onto your feet, doubt nagging at you. Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference if you had your strength. You don’t know if it could handle a foe like this…
“¡Trueno, acércanos!”
Juliana calls out and points ahead, and you stare a moment before she repeats herself with the name Turo gave you. Your attention drifts over to Chispa, as you pipe up with a startled splutter.
“Chispa?! What on earth is she-?”
He looks a bit lost himself, when in Juliana’s right palm, you see glinting light underneath it.
It’s her Tera Orb, shining and brimming with energy. The Rotom lets out a buzz in realization as he maneuvers Juliana’s phone, clamping it onto the mount on your harness.
“Looks like she wants to give feather-face a boost. Maybe you could use one, too!”
All of a sudden, the music in your ear and the surrounding air’s much louder and crisper. Is this the boost he meant?
A sharp squawk reveals Lucas jumping aside again, this time not cleanly enough to avoid a graze. It makes up your mind for you:
You will get your friends there.
You shift into Ride Mode and Hadron spins to life with an almost roaring hum and air shoots out of your hips’ thrusters. So hard that your rings spin in the sand as you rocket forward. You shoot in between the Iron Treads and Lucas and feel Juliana let go of your right harness as you near.
And from the very corner of your eye, you see her throw her hand forward and the Tera Orb sail off from it.
You wrench your head back and see the brilliant flash of light as Lucas starts to Terastalize. Much to your alarm, the Iron Treads is whirling around towards him. No! Not right now! Lucas just needs a bit longer!
A thought crosses your mind. It’s more than a little foolhardy, but it’s the one thing you’re sure will work. You wrench your body without prompting. Towards the Titan Pokémon, and you race forward, you let out a bellowing cry.
“Hey! Over here, you overgrown wheel!”
The Titan falls for it, and lets out an angry bellow that shakes the ground and makes you wobble and fight to stay on your rings. You enter a skidding drift, aiming to race rings around the Iron Treads as you go from its trunk to its tail—
Where Lucas is running up, his body coated in a blue crystalline sheen.
Juliana cries out for another Aqua Step as Lucas throws himself forward, hitting the Titan with a swipe of his foot that makes an audible clang, and incredibly, knocks it off its feet entirely with a loud crash.
The music fades out with an echoing voice, as suddenly, the ground shakes and sand fills the air. You and your passengers cough as the dust settles and a sharp squawk rings out.
“Hey! Get back here!”
… And see your foe rolling off in retreat. Juliana hurriedly gathers her stuff and recalls Lucas as you growl and rocket off after the Titan.
You’re not letting him go so easily.
There’s a strumming melody in your ears that as you listen to it you realize bounces left and right between the headphones over your ears—like Juliana does for you sometimes when you’re spectating your teammates on the sidelines during battles.
Except the only battle you’re watching right now is with your own restlessness.
The guitar picks up and starts snarling as your claws tap against hardwood, before your right one thumps against something soft. A small green throw rug with a Skwovet plush and a couple odds and ends, with a window looking out onto a garden where you see that vegetable garden in front of Juliana’s house and her mother tending to it.
Electronic chimes kick in as you paw impatiently at the floor. It’s the end of the weekend and Juliana’s visiting her home again. Except all you’re seeing of the outside world right now is the sliver of Cabo Poco at sunset through the window and the posters above the foot of her bed.
They’re apparently of distant lands she’s dreamed of visiting someday: one of a white tower in a crowded lit up by spotlights under a full moon. It’s a city from somewhere far off to the northeast… ‘Ciudad Luminalia’ or something like that. There’s another of palm trees framing a mountainous island at sunset.
Maybe you couldn’t get her to either of those places, but you could at least take her down to the beach, or drift around on the trails, or trying to find someplace new as part of her Treasure Hunt…
Someplace where she’d actually be having fun instead of being cooped up in this room doing homework.
You turn around back towards the other end of the room. You haven’t been here too often, but it’s still recognizable: the TV and game console. The shelves with books and knicknacks like a plant in a Hoppip-shaped pot. The white wardrobe with Pokémon stickers…
And Juliana sitting at the little desk on the right, staring down at an open book and looking like she’d rather be anywhere but here right now. Why, she doesn’t even have Chispa with her—he’s busy floating by the shelves at the moment.
You shake your head. No, she’s studied enough. And for whatever reason, something about this doesn’t sit right with you.
Those electronic chimes come back as you walk up beside her, and nudge at her with your snout.
“Juliana?”
She turns her head over towards you as you hesitate. Something about this whole encounter is eerily familiar when it dawns on you:
It’s like the times you’d walk in on Turo while researching.
“Wheels, we’ve been over this,” a buzzing voice chirps. “She’s doing her book report.”
You turn and see Chispa, now closer and floating up in front of you. Yes, you know that Uva Academy sometimes gives Juliana homework, but…
“But she never does homework on the weekend!”
“She does when she needs to return the book her report’s about tomorrow,” the Rotom sighs. “I did try to warn her she was biting off more than she could chew.”
You look over at Juliana as she pats you. She says the same “Terminaré pronto” she did half an hour ago, and something about friends downstairs.
“... If you’re sure…”
You sigh and shuffle off leftwards, carefully making your way down the steps going down the red-painted wall down to the ground floor. The steps are a little tricky while you’re in Low-Powered mode since you have to mind the bend to not knock over the potted plant with your tail.
But you make it down there, and soon enough, you’re passing the front door into the living room. Pokey’s there, now an Oinkologne, talking with that Skwovet partner that hangs out here.
Except your thoughts are still upstairs. If you could just get Juliana outside and moving, you know she’d be so much happier…
“Eh? You’re still out of your Pokéball?”
A quacking voice turns your attention up towards the side entrance of the kitchen. It’s Lucas, coming in holding a small bundle of carrots. He sets it on the counter, before giving a puzzled glance at you.
“I’m surprised you didn’t go stir-crazy just walking back and forth inside.”
Wait, maybe that’s the break that you need. Lucas was Juliana’s first partner and she’s got a bit of a soft spot for him, so…
“Lucas, can you get Juliana to stop doing homework?”
“Trueno, why would I do that when she needs—?”
“Because she’s been unhappy the entire time and won’t listen.”
The Quaquaval hesitates. His eyes dart over to the loft where Juliana’s bed is, before shaking his head with a sigh.
“I’ll go check up on her, but I don’t think she’ll stop,” he says. “Right now, I think that we need to try and make her happy where she is.”
He makes his way off as you let your eyes drift down towards the counter with an uneasy whine. You just don’t know how you can make her happy right now. There’s not even enough space to run around her in Low-Powered mode!
It’s then that to your right, you see it:
There’s a sandwich set out on the counter on a plate. From the smell and sight of it, it was made with that recipe Juliana’s mom gave her after defeating Iono’s Gym.
Maybe it’s silly, but maybe that’ll cheer her up. You carefully nip the edge of the plate and pull it off the counter. It’s a little awkward at first, but after a couple steps, you keep a rough balance and little by little, you retrace your steps amidst electronic beats.
You pass the front door. Then the steps. And before you know it, you’re walking up to Juliana talking with Lucas at her desk.
You set it on the desk with a tak, and turn to face her.
“Juliana? I brought you something to…”
Only for your words to trail off after getting a good look of the book on the desk. On it, there’s a black-and-white drawing of a floating serpentine figure that looks just like the way you do when you’re in Ultimate Mode. The illustration looks just like one in that book Turo had. Why, it’s even got the same violet-colored cover!
Maybe Lucas was right about making Juliana happy where she is. Since right now, the place you want to be the most is there alongside her.
A human voice, and then a snarling guitar that mixes with it both in the headphone over your right ear and the frigid air around you. Chispa’s clearly not wasting any time at all after that selfie for hitting the road again, and neither’s this song from the way a thumping beat joins in the melody.
You’re in front of an icy pillar under orange evening skies, a small sign with human glyphs marking it as a scenic lookout—“Mano de Napada” or something like that. Juliana shifts on your back as she slips Chispa back onto his mount. Lucas settles in behind her, your Hadron Engine spinning up faster and faster…
And with a cry and a tug at your harness, you’re off.
Your thrusters roar to life and your rings spin, briefly in place as your curled-up tail wobbles, but it flattens out and you tear along an incline with scattered scrub and the occasional pine tree.
All wreathed in a layer of white.
It’s apparently called ‘snow’, and it forms in places that are very cold or high up, or both like this Mount Glaseado you’re currently on. You know the air gets brisk at high altitudes, but from how frigid things are, you must be even higher than when you flew from your last lab.
It’s cold, wet, and winds up caking your body when you sprint through it for long enough. You’re not sure you’ll ever get used to it.
Juliana tugs your harness rightward, and the moment you turn your forward ring, you can feel yourself already sliding as Lucas squawks.
“Trueno, you’re skidding again!”
Your irises widen and you lean right as sure enough, you’re sliding, your rings spinning but not actually pulling you forward as you slide towards a rocky face. You wrench your torso leftwards to keep yourself from falling over, pushing out more and more air from your thrusters as snow flies all around in your wake.
Your rings finally find traction and you can feel your body start moving forward, first slowly, then all at once as you fight against your tail ring as it slides left and right before it finally straightens out.
And in spite of it all, it always leaves this stupid grin on your face.
“¡Salta!”
Juliana’s cry cuts above the racing, electronic beats, and the wind in your face as you feel through her harness that she wants you to jump. It’s not hard to see why: up ahead, there’s a whole pod of Cetoddle wandering about the path, just gaping at you instead of making way.
Fortunately, it’s been a bit easier for you to avoid running into Pokémon ever since that last Herba Mystica. You break stance and for a fleeting moment, plant your feet, vaulting into the air as the Pokémon below let out a chorus of startled cries as you wait until you’re at your very apex.
You spread your horns wide, warmth running along them as they trap air underneath them. It’s not the most impressive thing you’ve done with Glide Mode, but it lets you clear the Cetoddle all the same.
You coast until your rings touch the snowy path, and you rocket ahead.
The icy ledges to your left slip from view as Juliana prompts you to turn left this time. You enter a slide, leaning left as you reach your left claw out to skim the snow and glance off at your surroundings.
At first you just see your claw and the snow. But as you start evening out, the rest fills in: Lucas clinging to Juliana with his feathers puffed out—hadn’t he gotten over you drifting like this? More square in your vision is the Pokécenter you stopped at earlier… along with a couple humans and Pokémon who stare after you as you pass.
And up ahead is a broad, snowy plain in between rising peaks to the right and a dropoff to the left. There’s a trainer in a delivery outfit, and a few groups of wild Pokémon like Snover and Bergmite milling around…
With enough open space between for you to race ahead freely.
You tear along ahead, the snowy landscape with its grasses and scattered trees flying past the corners of your vision like the snow you can feel flying up behind you as you zoom along.
Why if the rest of this journey up the mountain’s like this, you’ll be at that ‘Montenevara’ in no time—
“¡Espera! ¡Espera! ¡Para!”
Juliana cries out as you plant your claws and skid to a stop as your Hadron Engine spins down into a lower hum and feel Juliana tugging Chispa off that phone mount. When you look over your shoulder, she and Lucas are staring puzzledly at the screen of her phone.
“Chispa, you’re sure we’re headed the right way?” he asks. “The map says Montenevara’s east, and past a lake.”
“And what else is, feather-face?”
The Rotom motions a tendril towards the peaks. Right, you’d surely have to fly or climb up there. And you can do neither right now…
Juliana suddenly calls for you to get going, you spin up your Hadron Engine and start to head along, only much to your surprise, she’s tugging your harness east and towards the slope.
“Whuh? Juliana? Why are we going–?”
Your words trail off as up ahead and to your right, you see it:
There’s a broad ledge up at the very top of the incline, and about halfway down, there’s a small ledge with a lone pine tree on it… along with a shallow-looking seam running almost in the opposite direction that looks like it’ll lead up to it.
“Ah! I get it!” you cry. “Way ahead of you!”
You wrench your body and bring yourself to a sliding stop as the words in the song start repeating with broken, staccato words. You briefly note a nearby Cubchoo blinking at your presence, as you even your rings out to align with the shallow rise, now dead ahead…
And you launch yourself forward.
You rocket off, your Hadron Engine’s whine growing louder and louder as you reach the incline and start racing up it—except as you near the top, you realize something’s wrong:
Even though you’re running your Hadron Engine as hard as it can, you’re going slower and slower. Until the point you’re not going forward at all.
A-Ah! Your rings! They’re not holding traction! Why, you’re starting to slip back do—
“¡Salta!”
You don’t think and plant your feet as Juliana calls for you to jump, vaulting forward and up into the air, except the ground beneath you still doesn’t look even. You spread your horns by reflex, entering a glide onto flatter land just in front of the tree.
You pant briefly, your breaths coming out in small, foggy puffs as you look leftwards. The slope here is noticeably steeper, but you already know a way around that.
You backpedal up against the incline, until your claws start slipping…
“Hup!”
And vault backwards as high and far as you’ll go. Once. Twice. Until you feel flat ground underneath you again. Juliana briefly glances off, before tightening her grip on your harness and steering you rightward.
You’re not really sure what she sees, but you trust her. You turn around, hugging the ledge to your left as up ahead, there’s what looks almost like a path in the bare, sloping stone leading up to the next ledge.
It almost comes to you almost by instinct now—zoom up the first section of stone until your rings won’t take you forward, then jump and pick up speed again.
You do it twice, but after the last jump, where you expect another incline, you land on a downslope. This ledge is much bigger and there’s rushing water somewhere…
“Ah! That’s the lake!”
Lucas dismounts and points off ahead, where sure enough, there’s that lake from the map. The Quaquaval looks proud of himself for a moment, before Chispa floats up with a tired buzz.
“You’re celebrating a bit early, feather-face.”
Just after the song ends, you and Lucas follow Chispa’s tendril when you see it: a waterfall, cascading down steep, frosty slopes.
You’re… going to need a moment to think the way forward through.
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You’re in a little fenced-in plot just north of Montenevara’s Pokécenter, whose Pokéball-shaped light stands above a small copse of trees in the foreground—the backs of timbered buildings to your right and a snowman in front of a snowdrift to your left.
An eerie, chiming melody fills the air, as you blink in surprise. Isn’t this that same song you heard while climbing the bluffs overlooking Juliana’s house?
And then all of a sudden, there’s an almost electronic-sounding human voice and a thumping beat that weren’t in that song.
You turn your head back to the source, Chispa, floating aside as she steps forward along with Ascua the Ceruledge and your newest teammate, Nevada the Arctibax. She brings her arms in front of her and they mirror it, Nevada a bit more awkwardly.
An electronic riff suddenly comes alive as Juliana bounces on her heels before bringing her right hand zigzagging from her face and down to her hips, repeating the gesture with her left. Ascua’s mirroring it as well as she can, Nevada… not so much.
You blink in befuddled surprise as the human voice in the music says staccato words, repeating the last one faster and faster…
“¡Garra Umbría! ¡Colmillo Hielo!”
Just as the music swells, she cries out for a Shadow Claw and an Ice Fang, throwing her arm out. In a flash, Ascua and Nevada lunge forward, slashing and biting at empty air. Almost like how she’d train with Lucas.
Except the Quaquaval’s waiting behind with the others and looking on.
Juliana runs up to catch up with Ascua and Nevada as the music starts chiming and they quickly return to formation, this time thrusting arms out and slowly swiping them from one side to the other.
You look on as Nevada seems to be getting a little more in sync, before glancing down at your claws.
You get what Juliana’s trying to do. She recently took her first loss to a Gym to the one in town against… ‘Lima’, you think the name was. It’s not that your teammates never fought multiple opponents at once, but ones that were just as strong as them…?
She clearly thought that the team needed to work on its coordination more, and thought her exercises she normally does with Lucas might help. Except Lucas is the Pokémon on the team that actually benefits from dancing.
Would it really make a difference for everyone else?
Another cry to attack. This time for a Flame Charge and a Dragon Tail. Once again, Ascua and Nevada are off, lunging ahead with bladed arms trailing fiery embers and a lagging tail swipe trailing dragonfire respectively.
The Arctibax’s balance wobbles a bit as one of her feet slips on the snow, but she hastily corrects it as Juliana catches up again… and reminds you why you’re not there with your friends right now.
You’re not any less clumsy at these synchronized dances, and unlike Nevada, you can’t actually throw any attacks forward right now.
All you’d do is just get in everybody’s way.
“¡Ascua, cambio! ¡Vuelve aquí!”
You briefly see Ascua ducking back off the field as Juliana calls Lucas forward, before settling on your claws with a deflated whine. Maybe it’s just the cold, but even with the music in the background you can't shake the feeling that you should’ve just stayed in your Pokéball.
“Huh. I knew I was hearing music coming from down the hill.”
You jump up with a start after hearing an eerie, ghostly voice from just beside you. As you land, you whirl your head right and down, and see there’s one of those Greavard peering up at you.
“H-Huh?! Who are-?!”
“Oh, I’m from the gym here in town,” the Ghost-type explains. “I’m just on break from my normal duties right now.”
You blink slowly. The snow doesn’t look deep enough for him to have hidden in it like the Greavard you’ve run into in the past days, but…
“You seem a bit lonely right now,” he says. “You’re not joining in with your buddies?”
Even without seeing them, you can already tell from the cries mixing in with that chorus that’s playing in the background that Lucas and Nevada are attacking and regrouping in sync with the music right now…
“But I can’t fight like them...”
Somehow, in spite of not being able to see the Greavard’s eyes, you swear you can see him raise a brow.
“That’s surprising, since you don’t look particularly weak,” he says. “Though your buddies look more like they’re are dancing instead of—”
“I can’t dance the way they’re dancing either.”
You avert your gaze, your voice coming out in a low mutter.
“I just can’t do anything to help them right now. I’d just bog them down...”
“Don’t be so sure about that.”
The Greavard points off, just as a cry comes from the field: Juliana calling out for an Aqua Step and a Take Down. Lucas throws his leg forward as watery feathers zip around, while Nevada jumps and suddenly throws herself forward upside down.
“Oof!”
You wince as the Artibax hits the ground and lays there in the snow stunned for a moment. Juliana and Lucas hurry over as the Arctibax rights herself with a small grin.
“So, when can I expect you to do a dorsal flip, too, Lucas?”
“Sometime after I can use a Dragon Tail.”
The two break out in laughter, which after a moment, passes along through the language barrier and sweeps up Juliana too. You look on for a moment as your other teammates come off the sidelines and gather around, joining in.
A prod turns your attention down, to the Greavard looking up at you.
“Half a battle is won or lost in your head no matter what you do,” he explains. “You can be the toughest ‘mon out there, but if you go into one telling yourself that you should just give up, well… it’ll be pretty hard for you to win.”
You turn your attention back to the others as Juliana pats Nevada’s head, before the Arctibax and Rosa the Tinkatuff trade places. You’re not sure how she’s going to match those dance moves with her hammer, but both her and Nevada seem to be in good spirits as Juliana begins the routine again.
“Don’t worry so much about what you can and can’t do for your friends,” the Greavard tells you. “Just get out there and be there for them.”
… He’s got a point. You can literally think of moments like the Gym challenge in Levincia where just raising your friends’ spirits made a difference.
“Heh, to be honest, half the time I’m throwing down beats with the sound team in the Gym instead of actually taking the field and battling challengers.”
You shoot a sideways glance. This pup’s on a sound team? You know the Gym leader sings, but…
“Who did you say you were again?”
“I kinda go through a few names depending on my gig, but you can call me ‘Nitxo’.”
… Isn’t that a word humans have for places where they put dead things? That’s really a name?
The Greavard doesn’t notice your reaction, and turns to leave as he steals a glance back.
“Also, whenever your trainer comes by next time, give me the name of this song she’s playing,” he said. “It’s catchy, and it’s close enough to my trainer’s vibe that I might be able to slip it into the battle playlist.”
You watch the Greavard drift off, before turning back to your teammates.
The music’s at a bit of a slower moment, right now, and they seem to be taking a break from the way Juliana’s talking with Ascua and Lucas is brushing some stray snow off his feathers.
You hesitate briefly, before putting a claw forward and then another, and another. Until you’ve walked up and are there beside Juliana, as you lower her head and nudge her from the side.
She turns and blinks at you, as you shuffle your claws against each other.
You don’t really expect to do well, and you’re not sure what difference it’ll make, but…
“Do… do you have room for me to dance, too?”
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You’re back under that simulated sky in your Pokéball, the not-sea to your left and simulated palm trees and cliffs flying past to your right.
Dah-da-dah-da-da. Dah-da-dah-da-da…
What is real is your humming to that last song you got stuck in your head, and your Hadron Engine’s whine as you shoot forward in Ride Mode. A sign you don’t really need the rest right now.
You enter a skid that matches a shallow curve heading off to a small, sandy outcropping. You run your Hadron Engine harder and harder, picking up speed as you approach the edge, when you throw your rings out sideways.
SKREEEEE!
You come to a screeching stop, and settle onto your claws, looking up at your Pokéball’s sky and the faint glimpses of the outside world in it. Juliana’s headed back to the gate of that ‘Ruchbah Squad’s base, the stomping grounds of some boy with a scepter and Fairy-type looking clothing called… ‘Gus’, you think.
You just got through helping your teammates out with a battle against another one of those ‘Starmobiles’ like you’ve been doing with the past few Team Star bases. It took quite a bit out of your teammates, and Juliana must’ve thought it did the same to you since you got hit a few times…
Except from a glance down at your claws, all the scuffs on your hide have already self-annealed. Maybe you’re not as energetic as before, but surely enough to leave the base in Ride Mode.
Maybe something was going on? Since Juliana was talking with that fairy boy for a long time…
Ro-to-to-to.
“Juliana…”
Your attention shoots back up towards the sky at the sound of an electronic-sounding voice. The approaching gate to the base is gone and replaced with meadows and distant mountains—and up at the very top of your Pokéball’s field of vision, Chispa’s floating in the air a short distance from Juliana’s face.
Oh. Penny’s calling again.
Well, you suppose you don’t know that for sure, since it’s… ‘Casiopeia’, you think, who always calls right as Juliana leaves these bases. Even if the voice isn’t the same, you’ve seen Penny lurking outside these bases in the middle of past challenges.
That can’t all just be a coincidence… right?
She says something about the fairy-boy that’s hard to follow, and you opt to focus on your little world around you, standing back up on your rings.
Your thrusters roar to life as high, electronic trills reverberate in your memory banks. You can’t help but hum along as you rocket back down the beach, and start making your way to the other end of the round not-island.
Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but you swear you’ve been improving lately. Yes, you still can’t fly properly, but you think you’ve been getting the hang of banking on aerial turns again.
There’s some mock rocks in the not-sea coming up on the left. You can only get so high at the moment, but doing a quick loop around them ought to be a quick way to practice.
You turn your forward body leftwards, waiting just a moment for your eyes and snout to face the sea as you plant your claws and vault up into the air. The wind feels flat and not as exciting as real winds do, but your heart still flutters as you reach your jump’s apex.
You spread your horns and the energy membranes fill in in between as they always do transitioning into Glide Mode. They catch air briefly and you bank, seeing the rocks pass by your vision with the world tilted like while in a drif—
SPLOOSH!
And then you hit the not-water’s surface. There’s a jolt through your body as the membranes dissipate and you flare your horns. Your rings inflate and you clamp your claws back into place, coughing as your Hadron Engine briefly sputters.
You’re pretty sure you know what’s going on. Every time you enter Glide Mode, your thrusters lose power compared to your other modes.
Maybe you could make it work if you could get up higher. Like if you were jumping from off those plateaus up above in your simulated environment…
Your eyes drift down towards your claws and linger there for a moment, before turning up to the cliff faces going up from the beach. You sink a little lower into the water. No, you already know enough that it’s not worth trying to climb them right now.
“Just one more Herba Mystica…”
You sigh and bob in place. Yes, it’s disappointing, but it shouldn’t be much longer until you’re all better again and you’re back to your old self… when you can help battle and face down challenges just like everyone else.
Assuming that you don’t wind up just making problems for them, anyways…
“Por lo que había dicho él, ya os conocíais... Desde hace mucho?”
It’s the caller again, fresh off a question about… that name that white-haired teacher from Uva Academy uses when he’s going around in that terrible wig and student outfit. ‘Cael’, was it? Towards the top of the sky, Juliana’s face hums in thought briefly, before she replies:
“Sí.”
“En cualquier caso, en alguien de fiar, como los miembros de antaño…”
“... De antaño?”
There’s a pause, as for a moment, you don’t hear anything but those foreign human lyrics in your head as something about the conversation sounded strange.
“... ‘Members of old’?”
“... Sabes que el Team Star se formó orginalmente por estudiantes que estaban sufriendo acoso…”
Wait, those Team Star humans you’ve all been fighting were bullied too? Those same loud and aggressive ones sic their partners on you at every base?
“Al poco de formarse, hubo un enfrentamiento entre los jeves y los abusones en cuestión. El resultado gue una victoria aplastante del Team Star.”
Your eyes drift down towards the mock-beach as you space out from the rest of ‘Casiopeia’s conversation. For a moment, you think your ears deceived you and misheard things, but…
They stood up to their bullies. Just like you tried to.
… Except, unlike you, they actually succeeded.
You have so many questions right now. If that really is Penny talking with Juliana through Chispa, does that mean that she got bullied, too? It would explain how she’s seemed timid and unconfident in the past, but…
Why are you trying to break up Team Star for ending it?
“El Team Star les metió tanto miedo en cuerpo que, al final, dejaron la academia uno tras otro. Y es la razón de que el Team Star terminase por ganarse tan mala fama…”
You don’t understand how scaring your bullies away is a bad thing.
It’d have been a dream come true for you managed to do that to him… Maybe you’d still be with Turo right now…
Why does Penny—assuming that electronic voice is actually her—talk about what happened like it’s something she regrets?
Did… something also go wrong when Team Star scared their bullies off?
A glance up reveals that Chispa’s gone and Juliana’s standing at attention. The reason why is quickly apparent, that ‘supply officer’ is walking up—Eevee backpack and all.
“H-Hola otra vez…”
Penny’s tense and shy as usual. And if that was her on the phone, she’s probably in a low mood right now.
Whatever the truth is, you think you know how to lift it. It always worked on Arven, and it seemed to work on her in the past.
You stomp the ground and your surroundings melt away. One thing leads to another, as you’re outside your Pokéball, sitting upright and calling out in greeting.
“Hey!”
“¡Aaaaah! No podrías quedarte quietecito ahí dentro?”
Whuh? You weren’t staying still inside there at all.
But it’s no matter. That startled reaction’s nothing you can’t fix with a few playful licks.
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There’s an electronic chime lingering in the air as you transition between Aquatic Mode and Ride Mode coming in from the surf.
You can’t fully tell if it’s in your head or if Juliana left one of her headphones beside your Pokéball again after noticing you weren’t in a good mood.
Either way, it’s not working. Or changing anything about your Hadron Engine’s agitated hum.
You plant your claws against the not quite sand underneath the blue daylight of a not-quite-sky and not-quite water rolls off you without lingering and look down at your claws.
Even if everything around you is all fake, but the way your claws are trembling is very much real.
As is that feeling inside you that you’re about to scream.
“Tengo un favor que pediros.”
You faintly hear that voice and look up to see that in the sky, there’s faded images of monitors alight in the sky. With Turo’s face on the center one in front of some whiteboards.
You wrench your body and push air out of your thrusters to zoom off along the beach and for the cliffs. ‘Turo’ there’s really his assistant, who all this time has had the utter gall to just go and pretend that he’s him. To not say anything about what happened. About what happened to you.
He’s even doing this to Arven! How could he just go and do that?!
… Considering the way Turo made him, does he even know that getting others’ hopes up for nothing would hurt them?
A loud, chiming beat comes from that music you’re hearing just as you plant your claws into the mock cliff. ‘Turo’ is still speaking in the background, but you thankfully can’t really make it out in between the music and your claw crunching mock-stone as you climb upwards in faltering, uneven vaults.
The only thing that’s changed since eating that last Herba Mystica.
You’d tried to put on a brave face to the others and insisted that that last Herba Mystica maybe just needed a little time to kick in, but it’s been an entire day since fighting the Titan at Casseroya Lake.
And no matter what you’ve tried either inside or outside your Pokéball, your Hadron Engine still hangs. Just below the strength needed to enter Ultimate Mode.
One last leap takes you up over the edge of the simulated cliff, as you spread your horns and enter Flight Mode to descend with your thrusters until you’re on the mock-grass. A part of you should be happy. Before yesterday, you literally weren’t able to get up here...
“Me hace falta un objeto que se encuentra en algún lugar del laboratorio. El Libro Púrpura.”
But as the empty mock-skies remind you, you’re supposed to be able to do so much more. You spin your engine up as the music you’re hearing swells with a strange human language along with piano and thumping beats. You rocket along the top of the little grassy plateau, your Hadron Engine’s noise a stifled scream until you’re at the edge.
And then you spring up, vaulting into the air. Everything afterwards plays out much as it has more times than you can count in the past day: you spread your horns, the energy membranes fill in and catch air…
And your thrusters lose power from your earlier sprint. And the moment you try angling up to climb higher, you almost immediately stall and begin falling.
Your eyes widen as you see the water fast approaching, as you even out until you stabilize in the air and glide your way back to shore, touching down on the mock sand and coming to a skidding stop. You get off your rings, looking down at your body as one thought lingers in your head the entire time:
“I-I don’t understand, why am I not better?”
You know you were in bad shape leaving the crater, but you couldn’t have possibly gotten hurt worse than Fito had, could you? H-He couldn’t even stand or speak when you first saw him again! And now he looks stronger than ever!
“Es posible que esta misión requiera más de dos personas. Os animo a reunir a más aliados antes de partir gente de vuestra confianza…”
Turo’s assistant is still going on about something, but you block it out as you make your way back for the mock-cliff and start climbing again. You don’t want to hear his voice right now, though it stirs up unwelcome thought processes in you as you realize there was something special about how you’d gotten hurt:
You’d been fighting and not holding anything back right beforehand.
It’d started from the very beginning when you threw the first blow. You hit him hard enough that it broke his hide along his dewlap and he started leaking connective fluid. He struggled for a bit in pain and got really angry afterwards.
You should’ve known that something was wrong. That things wouldn’t be like those past times he bullied you.
That chorus is playing again as you stumble after one last jump runs out of cliff for you to climb. You’re back on the grassy plateau again, and eager to push those thoughts from your mind, you take off sprinting forward on your rings again.
Its length flies by, except the entire time, those memories of that awful day race along inside your head.
As you plant your feet and spring up, you remember the connective fluid pooling around you as you looked away and braced for the end. It takes all your focus to spread your horns as a memory of that horrible, blinding light flickers across your optical diodes. Faster than you can sigkill it.
And as the air passes around you, you remember Turo’s voice.
Saying the words that you didn’t understand then but you do now.
“¡¿Qué estás haciendo?!”
“¡Dejen de pelear, él está herido!”
“¡Sal de aquí!”
You shudder and your breath catches at that last one—the last words Turo told you. Your Hadron Engine suddenly loses power and you plummet, crashing into the shallows of the mock-sea. You grope about as you stumble onto the mock-beach, slumping over.
Your dewlap and tail are unfurled again. You must’ve entered Low-Power Mode sometime while falling. You know you’re not hurt, but your breaths are ragged and uneven, your vision is a blurry mess, and your voice is hitching and whining.
Maybe you’re just better off being stuck like this. At least you won’t have to worry about your power ruining anything else this way…
The surroundings suddenly start melting into light, but you dig your claws in and hold on. You don’t want to go out. Not like this.
The light fades as the environment returns to normal, and a pair of puzzled voices come from outside.
“¿Eh? Trueno no va a salir…”
“Probablemente esté cansado, déjenlo descansar.”
Juliana and Arven’s, mentioning something afterwards about a battle. You’re probably letting Juliana down by not cheering her on, but you just want to be alone right now.
Arven would probably be happier not seeing you again anyways.
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Time sure has a way of flying. It felt like it’s not even been an hour since the rain let up and Juliana finally stepped into that giant white concrete-and-glass building and now the stars and moon are just starting to come out.
And yet, everyone left it not quite the same…
There’s a woosh and bouncing electronic rhythm as you glance over and see Chispa hovering over the picnic table Juliana and Lucas are disassembling to pack up just a few steps away from that Pokécenter on the Pokémon League’s doorstep. You yourself are helping, as you pass the team ball by your claws along to put away.
The music picks up as a couple of your teammates turn towards Chispa briefly, with Lucas idly tapping a foot to the beat. It’s not quite the full team since the League made Juliana only bring six Pokémon along: Lucas, Canela, Ascua, Rosa… Nevada and Aurelio, now a Baxcalibur and Gholdengo respectively…
All of them hold the distinction of being part of a Champion team now. Something most Pokémon that partner with humans don’t accomplish in a lifetime, much less during Uva Academy’s Treasure Hunt.
It just feels so surreal… seeing these Pokémon that were once so weak and little, all so big and strong.
You just wish that you could’ve been there too…
You know you could’ve helped if you just had your strength. Since your friends and their opponents didn’t feel like they held back anything for their battles.
Except thanks to the League’s stupid rules, you didn’t even get to spectate outside your Pokéball…
“Listos?”
Just as the music picks up, you see Juliana’s beside you turning to the rest of the team as she goes through her Pokéballs. She takes a moment to pat and congratulate each one before she recalls them in flashes of red light.
Since you’re all not quite done battling today.
You turn your head down the shallow, grassy valley that leads up to the Pokémon League, as there, down the sloping hill, you can see the lights and spires of Mesagoza in the distance. Somewhere down there, in the main square in front of the steps to Juliana’s lab, Nemona's waiting.
For a battle between Champions.
You jolt to attention after feeling weight on your back and see Juliana settling in—your cue that it’s almost time to get going. You coil up your tail and unfurl your dewlap, forming your Ride Mode’s rings as they come alight in yellows and purples as your Hadron Engine hums to life.
She slips Chispa onto that phone mount, and that band and left headphone in place over your ear…
Except she’s not grabbing your harness.
“See you down there on the battlefield, everyone.”
You glance rightward and see Lucas giving a hug at Juliana’s side, before stepping back and reaching out for a Pokéball on her waist.
“... You’re not riding along, Lucas?”
He hesitates briefly, as Chispa buzzes from his mount.
“Bzzt! You’re seriously sitting things out now of all times?”
There’s a terse scoff, before extra weight settles in on your back. Sure enough, the Quaquaval’s there.
“Fine, just don’t do anything too crazy, alright?”
You give a small chuckle in reply as your Hadron Engine spins up, spiking with staccato revving as you hold your claws in place briefly, waiting for Juliana to grasp your harness.
“No promises there.”
She grabs them and you clamp your claws in place—along your forward ring and under your thrusters.
Your forward ring leaves the ground entirely as you peel forward, balanced on your rear ring for a few fleeting moments as your riders cry out. You let gravity take over and fall back into your normal stance in Ride Mode. You push your thrusters until your Hadron Engine hangs, tearing along the grass as your riders whoop and holler along.
The song Chispa put on earlier is racing with an electronic beat, just over the sharp whine of your Hadron Engine. It’s so close to kicking off your transformation into Ultimate Mode, even if you’re not feeling anything different since eating that last Herba Mystica.
Somehow, it’s not making you feel bad today.
A slight tug right and you follow, blowing past a Fidough whirling her head after you with a startled yip. Juliana doesn’t steer you back for some reason, when you look ahead and for a fleeting moment, you see it before you feel the sharp chunk of gray stone under your rings.
You briefly camber left from the ridge’s slant. You lean your body rightwards to compensate, as Juliana steers you close enough to the ledge for you to see past it:
The river you crossed to get here, cascading down a tall waterfall and Mesagoza’s westward covered bridge and its spires in the distance.
“Gah! Up ahead!”
There’s a squawk of protest from Lucas on your back and a sharp tug from Juliana and prompt to jump. You plant your claws, springing forward by reflex as you see a noticeable divot subsequent stony ridge pass underneath you, as the gray stone no longer sharply drops off to your right.
You land on your rings with a sharp chunk as now you’re on a slope that rises up leftwards—the little peak on top of the tunnel between Mesagoza and the valley you were in. Spires poke up past a stony seam… ones you’ve got half a mind to get a better view of.
“Hang on tight!”
Unprompted, you turn your body left slightly towards a smoother rock face heading up—one that from experience, you and Juliana have gotten used to spotting out as still being traversable in Ride Mode.
You charge ahead, your Hadron Engine whining against the night sky and fighting against the incline up to the fast-approaching ridgeline.
You’re starting to feel your rings lose their grip. Probably a sign that you’ve gone far enough.
You wrench your body sharply to the right and lean in with your turn as Juliana follows your lead and guides your harness. You let your thrusters spin down, your rings screeching as you slide along the path you were racing down, coming to a near-stop right before the ridgeline.
“Bzzt! Look at that view!”
All as planned. Uva Academy’s building with its spires lit up in evening lights are visible clear as day now, with Mesagoza and its lights sprawling out straight ahead.
You can hear Juliana and Lucas’ awed gasps before the former prompts you forward. You run your Hadron Engine hard, its hum picking up along with the music as your thrusters roar to life. You rocket down the ridgeline, the slope growing steeper and steeper as you approach Mesagoza’s buildings when Juliana lets out a cry:
“¡Volemos!”
You plant your feet and spring into the air, the wind whipping past your scales as you enter Glide Mode. It’s not quite as fast and free-feeling, but seeing those first rooftops and streets go by below brushes aside any disappointments well enough.
You clear the second set of rooftops and streets, if at a lower height. You don’t quite make the third ones right before that big yellow set of buildings that ring the main square, and have to steer into the air above a street that opens out to an overlook right by Mesagoza’s western Pokécenter. You steer towards open grass, pointing your thrusters downward to descend.
Before you know it, you’re down at street level. Juliana and Lucas dismount, the Quaquaval sporting a beaming grin as he’s recalled. You shift out of Ride Mode, and prepare to return yourself, when Juliana calls out from ahead.
“Trueno, vamos.”
She motions for you to follow as a grin slowly spreads over your face.
Guess you will be seeing a battle today after all.