"We're going great, boys. Let's have a nice hike and hope we can reach our destination before the night falls."
In the middle of the road where the skies are awfully cloudy and dim, Shin walked down the road with his trusty Pokémon Hoothoot and thankfully-recovered-Roggenrola en routing through the mountains to find his way into the green city called Markemak City. As craggy as the place can be, he effortlessly traversed the path with the help of his Pokémon and keep going on a steady pace through the route he choose to trek on.
Winds kept on blowing as if the clouds were fighting over by blowing themselves for dominance. Loud crackles started to release their cacophonous ember rhythm to warn trespassers to return back. However, those who've gone this far wouldn't just turn back around and left from their last track. This applies for Shin, who doesn't seem to be bothered by the bad weather that might occur in several minutes. Just as he glanced at the Electrike that gathered around staring straight into the black skies, the atmosphere flashed for a split second.
*CRACKLE!*
A loud rumbling noise reverberated the whole surrounding, the small pack of wild Pokémon howled altogether to draw in the lightning coming from the clouds. Observing from a safe distance, Shin thought to himself that he might be able to at least catch a lone Pokémon in here to add on his roster. But it seemed that his luck on getting one has ran out as they raced through the winds rapidly into another spot, leaving none behind but pebbles. About to throw a Quick Ball, he quickly aborted his choice and decided to keep moving forward.
Another loud thunderous noise came from the east, and something came from the top in many amounts. From dozens, hundreds, thousands, they dropped down like a mini assault coming from the Mother Nature. Cold and windy, Shin and his Pokémon decided to put their walk on hold by taking shelter near a cave of unknown origins. The deeper path has been blocked by an impassable debris of tough boulders, assuming that the site has indeed collapsed during an accident or alike, or probably something else. Not really curious with the secret behind it, Shin stared at the falling rain that couldn't tell when will they finish.
"Sigh, maybe we could've done it tomorrow." He said to both of his Pokémon, who appeared to be ignorant about their surrounding--Hoothoot flapping around to inspect something that might catch his attention and Roggenrola walking deeper that only leads into a dead end. "Now we'll just wait, I guess."
"...mooo..." A faint noise came from outside.
At first, Shin was about to take a look but hesitated when the rain's going to impact him more and more to make him catch cold. Dropping the idea to investigate, he kept on waiting until he fell asleep.
After a few minutes of quick napping, the noise was heard again, only that it's more clearer and louder. Opening his eyes, he saw a shadow reflection coming from an entity that seems to be heading straight into his place. Coming closer, step by step, Shin backed off and quietly signaled his Hoothoot to prepare a surprise Hypnosis. Once the mysterious entity became more visible, Shin and his Pokémon had a second thought before attacking without a reason. From there, they saw an unusual wild Pokémon following his path for it to face the same case as Shin and his friends do.
"Hmm? A stray Pokémon?" He said, the Pokémon only stared while the rain dropped on it more and more. "You won't stay like that forever, right?"
Walking forward with a heavy grunt to stay along, it sat on the wet grounds obediently beside him. Migrating from the previous spot, Shin felt disturbed with the presence of it. He stared at the rainfall, hoping to see the breaking of the clouds so they can at least part on their own way before any kind of strange things to happen. Meanwhile, the Pokémon stared at him sideways, squinting on its eyes on him.
"...Quit staring at me." He demanded, but the Pokémon kept on doing so. Still staring at each other awkwardly, Shin decided to draw his phone to play a game to avert his attention over the weird Pokémon. However, the Pokémon approached him to see what he's trying to do. Shin withdrew his phone and lets out an intimidating tone, and this somehow worked to its magic as the Pokémon immediately backed off slowly, taking the previous spot to sit on.
Back to the square one, Shin tried to not notice the Pokémon but to no avail, he failed as the Pokémon leaned closely at him. Bumping the trunk with his hair uncomfortably, Shin stood up and walked into a certain distance to claim another spot. Building a little amount of nerves as the rain continues to fall down like crazy, the Pokémon followed him, thus repeating the process until deciding to use a Quick Ball to put an end toward this strangeness. The ball shook thrice, and a clicking sound was heard. It seemed that Shin has caught a Heatmor, and now he can be not bugged by the very presence of it.
Still raining and probably a long one, his knackered legs were telling him to actually sit and relax. Finally doing so, he checked at the time from his phone. It was nighttime already, way too late for him to return to any civilization, followed by a heavy rain. Whistling with a repulsive voice and waiting for a few minutes with the phone on hand, the two didn't answered his call.
"Hmm, odd. Are they asleep?" He thought,
"Can't be, Roggenrola is a possibility but Hoothoot is a hyperactive bud."
Confused with the sudden absence of the two, he tried to double check the Poké Balls--correct to his guess, the two have been shifted out. He didn't remember where did they go when he was busy avoiding the Anteater Pokémon. There were no visible entrances leading to somewhere whatsoever, it's all brown and the wild Pokémon are surprisingly scarce, not even a single Zubat was encountered. Suspicion began to struck him, that's downright impossible for them to disappear in a confined space...unless there's a path that they took without his consent. Approaching the boulders to find something like a secret path, he also decided to send out his Heatmor out to become the lighter.
"Heatmor, you don't know Flash, but you can help me by lighting this unused lantern out." Requested Shin.
"Moooo."
The light ember was enough for it to shine bright enough, he placed the lantern into the support column for better overall sight. But he couldn't really find a way or anything like it. Slowly walking past him, sniffing the very particles of dirt in search of something, it pointed its finger into the blocked path and said,
"Moo."
"...It's a no go, so what?"
"Mooo."
Scratching his head for being unable to understand the speech of a Pokémon aside from making strange cries or simply repeating their names for reason unknown, rolling his eyes and glanced back at the entrance that isn't any better. But open closer inspection, inside the gap between the boulders lies a dirt camouflaged switch. Unsure of what will come at him, he reminded himself that he can't just stand and walk away when something bad happened to his Pokémon.
"Here we go then."
No longer thinking about the consequences, he pressed the switch.
*Bzzt*
Briefly buzzing, the boulders silently shifted themselves into a gate, revealing a metallic door with a light of red and green upfront.
"...So they're just behind that fishy looking door." He said.
"Moo."
"I don't quite get what plea you're trying to ask so far, but I got a feeling that we're coherently going for the same plan."
Grabbing the doorknob adamantly to open the door, Shin entered inside with an unlikely companion by his side. The interior looked very different from the exterior--the flooring are composed of entirely aquamarine tiles, the walls and the ceilings being considerably as clean as a generic building and well-lighted with the abundance of active machinery across the sides. But that wasn't exactly his attentive point--it was toward the robot in white trench coat who has a dart gun ready on hand.
"TARGET ACQUIRED."
Aiming with precise accuracy, it pressed the trigger. The sharp object was thrown at his left chest. Shin barely had enough time to dodge in which case the dart actually hit him. He stopped his stepping and somehow felt no pain at all. Taking a look at the clingy weapon that seemed to adhere on his vest, it barely reached his body due to the suit thickness. Plucking the dart from the thankfully livesaving clothing, he swiftly threw it back at the robot, a score in the shoulder but somewhat ineffective due to its metallic body.
"WELL, I AM SCREWED." Dropping down the dart gun with both hands on the head, Shin quickly confiscated the gun and dragged the tin machine into a wooden chair, thus wrapping it with a duct tape placed on the worktable in order to completely subdue him from promoting hostility. Successfully to mummify a scraphead for the sake of safety, Shin and Heatmor proceeded to investigate the strange lab to find his Pokémon whereabouts since the sudden attack already made it clear that there's obviously something that he didn't want him to find out.
"Shin, over here!"
A squeaky, humanoid voice came from one of the transparent chambers calling out for him. Approaching the claustrophobic tube, he sensed two familiar figures albeit different in appearance. Pushing both levers in order to open the glass borders, the Pokémon jumped out from the tubes.
"Woo-hoo! Thank goodness, Shin! Thought we're all gonna turn into...you-know-whats." Said the Nocturnal Pokémon.
"Yeah, good thing you two ar-" Shin paused for a bit, realizing the oddities few seconds way later, "...What the heck happened to you two?" Asked Shin, confusedly.
"Rororororo..." Followed up Boldore in relief.
"Uh...maybe you'd like to hear it later." Answered Noctowl.
Not sure with what was happening right now, Shin became more tempted on knowing more and more about this strange lab. Slowly approaching with a paper on hand, Heatmor bumped at the Trainer to get his attention. Within his grasp, it was a document about a report of some sort.
"A new meat joining us?" Asked Noctowl, in which Shin nodded to acknowledge his question.
"Mooooo." He cried out.
"Heatmor said that you should take a look at this." Noctowl translated.
Taking the piece of paper from him, he tried to read it out loudly, "By forcing a Pokémon to evolve using the formula I invented, we can transform a weak Pokémon into an extremely powerful Pokémon almost immediately without resorting to training them is now a possibility." He continued, "...At the expense of developing unexpected behavior as a result, which is sometimes pointless for...everyone's perfect Pokèmon?"
"Well, maybe the expense part is one of the pros." The Noctowl chuckled, "Not sure about the the perfect part, but we know that it's something not to be taken lightly."
"This is illegal..." Crushing the report into a small ball, he threw the newly made junk into the mummified assailant, "...Even though I'm tempted to abuse this thing, that'd be very unethical and unfair." Equipping the dart gun on his belt like a holster, he stated, "We have to shutdown this research for good."
"Moooo."
"Rorororororo..."
"Oh yeah." Reminded Noctowl, "Before we leave this place buried and known to none, you want to take a look at the confinement room right at over there. When we were mistaken as wild Pokémon, we were put inside one of the cells. We saw a lot of Pokémon are inside and they're seeking help."
Deciding to help the imprisoned Pokémon, the four headed out to the said confinement room. As expected, it requires a password to gain entry. The four didn't know what to input, but they found out that there was a side option which requires to answer a question in case forgotten password. Confirming the second option, the monitor showed up with an already mathematical question.
"I hate math."
Forcing in with the brute force of the Pokémon, they successfully break through and thus busted the door. From there, they saw a big, dome-like atmosphere with a lot of confined Pokémon, presumably wild, being startled by the sudden arrival of the four. Some were freaked out in the process, when the lights turned red followed with a loud beeping sound.
"ALERT. ALERT. BELOW AVERAGE IQ PERSONAL DETECTED. INITIALIZING EDUCATION SYSTEM IMMEDIATELY."
"...Education system?" Shin wondered, "Seriously, what?"
A hole opened on the ceiling, and something came out from it. It was a red, clad-armored insectoid Pokémon clinging from the thick pipes atop. Falling down with a pair of pincers ready on its battle stance, a Scizor has appeared before them. With a glinting gaze, he spoke gallantly, "I shall educate thee."
"That Pokémon, he's part of the said project, innit?" Asked Shin.
"Moo".
"Well, you guessed it." Replied Noctowl, "That inbred on steroids is the prime example of this crappy project."
"Rororororo..."
"Heatmor, you'll take down that Scizor." Instructed the Trainer, "We'll try to find out a way to free them all."
"Mooooooo."
Heatmor walked forward slowly by his own favor and noticed the Pincer Pokémon just ahead of him. Expelling white smokes from his tail, the grounds he stood on soon engulfed into a big one. Scizor was unfazed by this, and so charged head on by hardening his head to perform an Iron Head at a straight lane. The attack somehow hits the Anteater Pokémon as a penalty for not moving from his stance, severely denting it but he continued to stand and readies a hard reversal.
The nonlethal smoke was blown off by the propelling whip of flames, finally giving a clearer vision of the battle. Heatmor defiantly breathed out fire and rotated his head once more. Finding another safe way to fight, Scizor kept his distance by throwing several Bullet Punches, but all the attacks are warded off by the quick, blazing whips of the same velocity with metallic embers coming out from each blow within the close combat.
"Thee shall be finished." The Scizor jumped onward, maneuvering on the ceiling and dived in, hoping to finish the battle with a swift Brick Break. However, Heatmor already knew that Scizor didn't learn any moves that can indirectly hit him, and so he burned the approaching Pincer Pokémon alive with Incinerate.
The Pincer Pokémon stopped from his tracks and fall off into the grounds. In his state of pseudo-unconsciousness, Heatmor looked at him with an unimpressed stare and proceeded to materialize a hard whip of flame with intenser flames.
"Thee shall never win..."
"Moooooo."
Just when the Scizor was about to pull out and land a surprise Brick Break, the Pincer Pokémon was a second too late just before the Fire Lash hit him on the head, finally defeating the powerful Bug-Type Pokémon down on his stubby feet.
"A critical hit! Great job, Heatmor." Congratulated Shin.
"We've found out how to open those pens." Said Noctowl, "They'll be freed out when we press this 're-leash' button."
"Mooooooo."
"Well, well, I'm sure they should be able to find their way out once we press it." Asked the Trainer.
The team nodded at each other and pressed the button. The gates were opened, therefore leaving an opening for them and they quickly moved through the narrow passage to escape the site immediately. Several Pokémon were left out in the process, but they clearly meant different as they obediently stared upon him.
"...What are you all doing?" Questioned Shin, "You should be going already."
Eevee moved forward and shook her head in denial. She let out a cheerful cry to signify her allegiance toward him.
"They said that they're inspired by our team's bravery," Translated Noctowl, "...even if we're a bunch of despicable ragtags."
"I mean, we're trying to do the right things here." The Trainer said, "But if you all insist, then sure, your cause will be my cause."
Gladly accepting their offer, the Pokémon were delighted by his approval. Acquiring three new Pokémon inside their Poké Balls already, he threw the last Poké Ball into the Eevee. But to his surprise, the Poké Ball just bounced off, leaving the Evolution Pokémon unaffected.
"Oh, you already had a Trainer before me." Concluded Shin.
"Eh, why don't we try to find her Trainer too?" Suggested Noctowl, "We can always bump into them at anytime."
"You're right, she can stay with us for the time being until we return her into her owner. Whoever it might be, I'm sure they might be worried."
Knelling to collect the Poké Balls on the grounds to add on his belt, he stood up and began to walk away back to the entrance.
"Time to actually go, boys." Shin remarked, "We're gonna seal the entrance and continue hitting the road to Markemak."
"Mooooo."
"Rororororo..."
----
"I don't quite get the exact reason why'd they capture a lot of Pokémon, be it wild or already caught into some kind of genetic testing." Said the Trainer.
"There might be somebody whose plan revolve around this." Replied the chatty Nocturnal Pokémon.
"Will the effect last that long though?" Asked the Trainer.
"I'm uncertain. But don't you think that it'll be easier for us to understand each other for now?"
"As long you don't open your beak and speak dumb words. They're going to cite me as...well, you know."
"Sure you jest."
Finally arriving at the city of nature--Markemak City, he decided to put an end to his night by challenging the Gym Leader after he paid a daily visit to the Pokémon Center. Transferring Shroomish inside the PC to make space for Eevee, Shin moved his legs into the wet pavements and headed out the Gym at midnight.
He still got his luck intact, for how the Gym is still open despite the sign contradicting the activities. Entering the gym, Reed was sitting on the bench with a filtration device between his hand. When he saw a challenger coming, he quickly concealed the water pipe between the bushes and facepalmed that he forgot to lock the door in his gym. Nonetheless, he tried to play it cool and greeted, "Y-you there, you want to challenge me?"
"That's right. I'm Shin, a Pokémon Trainer." He responded, "I'm going to challenge you in a gym battle!"
"Fine, take your place, we'll begin and end this battle quickly."
The two took out their battle positions, in the middle of the night where the moon bathed the Earth with moonlight. The battle between a Pokémon Trainer and a Gym Leader was about to begin. The competitor confidently leaded with Heatmor, while Reed sent out his Cottonee to wear out his Pokémon a little bit before going the hard way.
"Maybe, battle by yourself?" Commanding him hesitantly, Heatmor aggressively burst out a piece of flame into the Cotton Puff Pokémon which is easily avoidable, but somehow scorched an unintentional target. Shin's face looked like he had just made a terrible mistake, while Reed seemed to be contented that his Pokémon managed to evade a super-effective move.
"Leech Seed." Cottonee jumped off then spread yellow seeds to adhere onto the Anteater Pokémon, but they were easily swatted off with a quick Fire Lash from its mouth tip, deflecting the attack away. Trying out Sunny Day to increase its speed, Heatmor quickly intervened with Incinerate, defeating Cottonee in the middle of the rising, artificial sunrise.
"Ugh, really?" Complained Reed, drawing another Poké Ball on his possession to send out one of his remaining friends. The second Pokémon was the Bulb Pokémon, Petilil.
The battle goes on, Petilil tried to outmaneuver with multiple Magical Leaves and Energy Balls, but the intensity of the artificial sun just invited her own defeat when Heatmor slapped Petilil with a sun-boosted Incinerate. Shin's attention was never to the battle, but on how the fire would spread while telling his Buizel and Totodile to sneak on the back and put out the fire. Almost pulling out both Poké Balls on hand, Reed eventually noticed this and halted in suspicion, "Oi, you're acting strange. Is there something the matter?"
"It's...it's nothing. C'mon, let's go." Shin replied.
Reed wasn't entirely mad about the unfairness, but that's also where he's trying to get more serious. Meanwhile, the flames already burned off a quarter of the plants inside, it's just a matter of time before it managed to reach the other side since he can't send out his Water-Type Pokémon at this point.
"You're advantageous, no wonder it would be this easy." He said, "Skiploom, your turn."
"Mooooo."
Entering the battlefield, the Cottonweed Pokémon swiftly danced around midair and carefully managed its distance between its foe. An almost invisible swift swoop, the Skiploom rushed in with the fiercest might of all. However, even if the attack managed to hit, Heatmor endured it and countered with a quick Fire Lash, hitting Skiploom with a clean whip enough to put it down. The fire kept on flaring, becoming bigger and bigger until it was too big to put out now, for his Pokémon unable to do so. Reed was about to congratulate him, but Shin looked more of paranoid instead of happy. He tried to call him out once more,
"Okay...Is there something bothering you?"
"Alright, the plants are burning!" Shin answered awkwardly.
"Y'know, I'm feeling...hot when you say that." Said Reed, "They might be burning in the drought...shrieking. But as long there's a substance to-"
"Well, yeah, cool. Can I have the badge and leave now?" Pleaded Shin.
"What a hasty one. But you earned it anyway...so go ahead." Throwing the badge upward, Shin caught the Herbal Badge and hurriedly ran toward the exit along with his Heatmor without saying any other word so they can save their lives firstly.
"Trainers these days are such quick feet... Meh, still better than my previous challengers..." He nonchalantly yawned, drawing back the hidden device to snort through while observing the burning plants on the back, "Even in the nighttime, it's so warm and lit...the roses are red...the violets are red...the bushes are red...Well, crap."
Several minutes later, sirens were heard all over the place. In the middle of the drizzle, Reed watched the firemen trying to put out the fire that was scorching the gym inside. Crunchy and crispy, the reflection of flaring plants filled Reed's eyes with a will to snap out. He still remembered that the grasses always told him that it's best to let go. Still taking this advice to the heart, he shrugged off the happening incident and roared while stripping bare.
