The Redwood Saga Chapter 89 - 57: Rumble in the Jungle

The Top Twenty

As their team spread out across the just over four miles they'd claid as their training ground, the mbers of the A and B teams coalesced. Alex's top ten remained unchanged, with Terra, Hydrus, Blaze, Leo, Arthur, Shruikan, Cenomons, Gelauros, Ictus, and even Lux, who was floating among them with his hilt. The B team had, however, had so slight changes in roster. Eremus was now apparently one of the largest Flygon in the Mohave Desert, and he was helping the desert Pokémon adapt to the returning life in the land. Tao's wisdom helped them coexist with the species that were migrating to these newly habitable areas, and apparently, from what he'd told Alex, he was not the only forrly trained Pokémon out there. The League had, after evaluating them of course, released many of the Arcean crusader's Pokémon to the wild, and Eremus had beco a kind of leader among them thanks to both his strength and kindness. Alex was genuinely proud of him.

Replacing his dragon and ground type was, naturally, his Garchomp Kalagon, who was eager to reach the sa level as everyone else. He had a growing lust for battle that rivaled Shruikan's, and when Blaze was too lazy or tired to indulge Shruikan's admittedly greater endurance, he had found a worthy sparring partner in Kalagon. The massive Garchomp had his head raised proudly among their group of twenty. His Lapras, Pruina, had also wished to do as Eremus had done, but for the Pokémon of the eastern Atlantican coast. She'd quickly ended up with a pod of her species, and Alex had expected no less. They were a matriarchal species, usually, and they gravitated on instinct towards the most powerful female they could find. She wanted to be more social than Eremus though, so she had started training her pod to carry Trainers, or regular citizens, across Unova's coast. In ti, she wanted to have pods on every State that had a coastline. Replacing her was his Kingdra, Kral, who had grown rapidly into his new draconic form since evolving. He and Jas Pond often had shooting contests, which Kral won with regularity despite the Inteleon's accuracy. Kral had speed, and quite a bit more power, in addition to his ability, Sniper.

The final change ca from his Orbeetle, Sensus, who was now officially the Empire's best thod of detecting threats. His training had gotten him to a high level, and apparently, his job also gave him Experience. Both Pruina and Sensus had agreed to battle, if the team needed them, in the World Tournant. Though Eremus had hid it, he was a bit salty about being replaced by a Garchomp, and had claid he was too busy for silly human tournants anyway. 'Maybe next ti' had been his answer, and while the salt was a factor, Alex knew he wanted the desert to be more stable and in balance before he left it for long periods to train and compete. The replacent for Sensus, as a psychic type, was why they had gathered. Joining them alongside their respective clones of their Trainer were Espeo, Psi, his Kadabra, and Atlas, his shiny new tang.

"This is a waste of ti." Shruikan started with an arrogant rumble. "Espeo is the eldest. You have had him longer. He deserves the spot. He deserved it more than even Sensus, the bug was only among us because he had to track down Avatar Jin."

"That's an opinion." Alex nodded. "But I always intended for Sensus to be our radar. And once he evolved, he practically shuddered with excitent when I suggested it. He had no qualms about leaving. He was always content to eventually be replaced. He knows he's a valued part of his 'colony'. Thus, here we are." Alex took a deep sigh, then. "For a team with a Trainer who is so well known as a psychic, our Psychic Type battle power is lacking. We've only ever really needed Arthur, but now Arthur is available, at best, half the ti. Canis and Astrum have covered that deficit, but this spot needs to be filled by a powerhouse. And we have three, even if two of you still need to evolve. I would know your thoughts, Espeo."

As usual, his naturally mild but now artificially modest Espeon was casually licking his paw and grooming himself throughout the discussion. "I'm flattered Shruikan, rrreally," He said with a purr, nodding with respect to the looming black Salance, his forked tail shifted and swished behind him. "But I agree with Alex. We need overwhelming psychic power, and my species simply doesn't have that. Not without decades of training, and honestly, overwhelming power is not sothing I desire. Thus far I have been in the background, using my Sight and my skills as needed, when needed. To moderate disputes, feed the new mbers, instruct the new mbers, heal injuries, or even enhance a city's battlefield barrier when Terra decides to spawn a forest out of nowhere."

Terra rumbled with a chuckle. "I did do that, didn't I." He smacked his lips, speaking slowly, as his brothers chuckled at his nonchalance. "No regrets."

Alex nodded, as he chuckled with them. "I will use you as you wish to be used, Espeo. If you ever feel the urge to Battle, don't hesitate to tell . You've been able to grow through your actions so far, but eventually, you Will reach a plateau that only punching upwards will get you across." His psychic cat prowled over to him, and purred against his legs, seemingly very satisfied with this arrangent. "Now then…that just leaves who officially replaces you. Psi. Atlas." The two newer mbers of the team snapped to attention, Psi with his spoon literally standing straight up again, and Atlas with his expressive eyes, focused on his Trainer. "I'll be training both of you, make no mistake. I intend to make you both so of the strongest Pokémon in the world as I promised, but this is more a matter of use and preference. When I have Arthur on hand, one of you will have to directly back him up, on the B Team, especially if the Muk ever hits the Fan Rotom. Like it almost did at the Fury Falls. When Arthur is not on hand, Canis will be in his spot, which ans both of you will fill in on the B Team. Honestly, it's just a matter of who wants to Battle more and take on more responsibility. Psi, let's hear your thoughts first."

The Kadabra gave a sagely nod. "As you have surmised, I have accepted your offer to beco the strongest. Though initially skeptical thanks to how…chill…this team is, I can now properly foresee my potential, and it is nearly limitless under your guidance. With that said…my preference is for gaining knowledge. Battling cuts into this ti. Your top twenty Pokémon also have many Special Attackers among them. Atlas is, I believe, more suited to Battling more often. He will learn better from Arthur's physical techniques than I will, and taking on responsibility seems to be sothing he is quite eager to do. I wish to take a more…intuitive role, on this team. I will keep apprised of the world's news, and the goings on of Human culture. Soone has to. All the dark ghost and the spark do is troll on Chatter and doom scroll through Reditto." Lux chuckled, and Nox feigned a look of indignance, until his species trademark smirk returned, along with a chuckle. He couldn't be mad when the psychic was correct.

Alex nodded again. "Very well. You're on intelligence gathering, and once you evolve and train, you may browse the Pokénet as you wish. I'll be taking you with the other new mbers, with the clone that will be journeying with Isamu around the Rio circuit for a bit. There are a few thods of achieving your final form, but they all require you to be at a higher level." With that said, he turned to Atlas. "Are you willing to Battle that often? To officially join the B Team?"

The platinum tang gave a mighty tallic roar. "I will take on this duty…once I grow stronger and evolve."

Alex chuckled. "You're still going to be training. You have Moves to master. All of you do. I'm taking you out with us too, Atlas. See if we can't find ourselves another shiny Beldum. Until we depart, work on the Moves that the TMs gave you. We'll need all of them in the Finals." With that, they set about training their resistance to the cold with Gelauros. This involved Alex taking those with double or quadruple weaknesses to ice, and sitting in his proximity, as he battled the natural heat and humidity of the Dark Continent with his own self-made Blizzard. Their task was to keep up their respective shields as long as they could and then resist the cold as long as they could, at which point they'd be recalled, one by one, until Gelauros needed a break, or they all succumbed to the frost. As he began shuddering from the intense cold, Alex kept his eyes closed, ditating and focusing hard as he managed his sixty or so clones of himself.

Revan, his Charcadet, still needed his armor, and soon, the commission would be fulfilled. The blacksmith in question, a man called Antonio, had been thrilled to have the chance to have his work adorn an Emperor's Ceruledge, one who would undoubtedly grace the World Tournant's stage before long, and Alex had agreed to let him mark it with his brand, so long as it wasn't too obnoxiously visible. Champ and Kel, his newly evolved Machoke and Gurdurr, were also coming on the Rio road trip, as were Psi and Atlas. Fulguron had beco an Electabuzz as he'd advanced with his training, and Alex knew the process for getting him to beco an Electivire would require a city's power network. The rest of the travel roster included Gauss, his Charjabug, who'd evolved after eating enough of his Magnezone's electricity, Dracala, his Noibat, and Simon, his Drilbur. All needed basic experience to evolve to their final forms. Luckily, he knew everything he needed would be available in Rio. They had a stock of Trainer items to rival Castelia and Levincia.

The Angry Chicken

Alex had his Infernape, Goku, and his Cinderace, Cinder, with him as he held a twitching fiery colored Luxury Ball in his oversized hand. They were near Sombra Verde, ho of the seventh gym of Rio's circuit, the dark typed gym. The people of Sombra Verde were, to date, the only group of humans insane enough to willingly live in Selva Muerta itself, and their population suffered as a result of that choice. Every year, the local Pokémon of the jungle tested the humans, chipping away at their resolve until they left, and every year the humans stayed, mostly because their Gym Leader was able to protect the settlent from being wiped out, and had no qualms about taking in criminals, or forr criminals. Whoever helped protect the town, got to stay, apparently. Alex didn't know the man's na, yet, but he did know he was a League recognized Dark Type Pokémon Master.

The town was not their focus today, however. Since Alex had first caught his Torchic, who he'd nicknad Garuda, he had very quickly evolved on his own into a Combusken, and ever since, only answered Alex's attempts to train him with fierce Pecks and Double Kicks. Alex could handle them of course, but the furious fire hen always preferred to attack, instead of listen. It was ti for that to end. It had been years at this point, after all. Garuda had acclimated to tolerating the other Redwoods, because they fed him, and he ruled their roost of Torchic and other Combusken. Alex was the only one he actively attacked, but enough was finally enough. It was ti for an ultimatum.

He tossed the ball, and as always, the angry eyes of the fiery fighting chicken looked around, took in the environnt, and then settled with anger on the tall fra of his Trainer. He also glanced at Cinder and Goku, and a smirk ford on Garuda's beak. "Finally attacking , are you? I knew you were full of Muk. You're literally the worst Human!" As usual, the insult was followed by a fierce Peck, but Alex was done indulging his shenanigans.

"Blaze Kick."

Cinder launched into the attack before the burning bird could so much as blink, and then he let out a painful squawk as the flaming rabbit foot forced the air from his lungs and sent him rolling back into the dirt. For the first ti, he looked at Alex's irritated but still passive face with fear, and Alex hated that he had to do this. But nothing else had worked. For years now. So species really did only understand one language: the language of strength. It was long past ti that Garuda understood who he was.

"I'm done, Garuda. I've tried giving you space. Talking to you as I easily dodged your attacks. Letting you rule the roost, back ho, in the hope that so females might calm you the Muk down, but alas, it's just made you more arrogant. Now, you understand. You resist Fire Moves, but that one nearly knocked you out. Cinder was holding back, too. If we wanted you unconscious, you would be."

"You call arrogant, you self-righteous ape!? I'll end you!" His Peck appeared again then, and Alex watched as it swirled, becoming a Drill Peck instead. He sighed again. Garuda still didn't get it. A life of leisure on the ranch had kept him from understanding just who his Trainer was, and despite his attempts to have the rest of the team explain, Garuda tended to attack them, as well, viciously insulting them until they left him and his females alone. Even Po had left the Combusken house dejected, and disappointed that he'd failed his Trainer's request. Po had been the last, and after half a day of trying, he'd co to Alex saying, "That guy…that guy hates you…" It was at that point that Alex knew more violent asures would have to be taken.

"Mach Punch."

This ti, Goku blurred forward, and the results of his training showed, as with one of his weakest moves, he got under Garuda's guard, and hamred him with a quick, powerful jab that sent the Drill Peck into nonexistence, as once again, Garuda was sent spinning across the ground.

"I said I was Done with your BS." Alex repeated, as he appeared over the nearly fainted Combusken, and glared at him. The weight of the Word kept the fierce fire hen from rising again, as his deep blue aura started burning around the human's body in a fiery outline. "I need you to hear , Garuda. So shut the Muk up, for once, and listen. I'm going to beco the World Champion. That's what my team and I are aiming for. I want you on that team. I've wanted you on it since the day I caught you. You're so full of potential, but your damned personality keeps you weak, isolated, alone on the ranch. Enough is enough, though. This farce ends today." He crossed his arms, and for once, finally, it seed like Garuda was listening to him and at least recognizing his skill as a Trainer of Pokémon, if not a different kind of human. Being taken down with two moves would hurt anyone's pride, and Garuda had never seen a human glow like this. "You will either begin training with the others, so that I can make you one of the most powerful Blaziken in the world, or I will release you here, in a Region where your species thrives. Not this spot exactly, but close. You can spend your days as a Combusken, and never see , or the ranch, again while I find a Torchic that doesn't despise . Make your choice."

Still weak, and on the edge of fainting, Garuda slowly stood up again. "You would…take away from my Eggs? My wives!? And you expect to bend to your threats!? You have…no idea…just who the Hell I am!" Flas rose around him in an impressive Fla Charge, considering he'd never been trained, and he charged at Alex again, as Goku and Cinder sighed and frowned in disappointnt respectively. This ti, Alex just raised a hand himself. The flas went out as they were forcibly guided away, and Garuda's eyes went wide as he psychically hung in the air, in awe. For the first ti, he sensed his Trainer's aura properly, and he was speechless at its power. Deep down, he started to believe the human's words. A Trainer like this really could push him to the heights of the world.

"Give your answer." Alex demanded, holding him in the air still, without inflicting more pain. Weakened as he was, that would faint him, and Alex didn't want to heal him and just attack him again, as that would be actual abuse at that point.

The Combusken looked down at the ground, then. "I have hated you…Human. Since the day you caught …sothing about your eyes…just rubbed the wrong way. The way you looked at …kept , in that ball, and on that ranch, like a possession. Despite my slavery, I made that ranch a ho. A new one, to replace the one you took from!" He tried attacking again, but this ti, his flas didn't respond. He was truly stuck in the air, at Alex's rcy. He looked up again with tears forming in his eyes. "I know I can't win against you. I've always known you were strong…but this is…more than I could have imagined. I hate you. For taking from my wives, for forcing to fight, or lose my ho. Again. To serve, or be left abandoned in a foreign country." He t Alex's eyes then. "I will fight, Human…but I will Never stop hating you."

Alex sighed, and looked down, very tempted to just release him, or accept his words and his hate and let ti sort it out. But no, he decided, Garuda had enough ti already. All he lacked now was perspective. Thus, Alex gave it. "You misunderstand much, so I will help you rember your humble beginnings. Your forr ho, one I bet you barely even recall, was a forest. You lived in dirt and I found you in a rotted stump, full of bugs that were infesting your feathers. I saw the potential in you the mont our eyes t. So I caught you. I should have asked first, though. You are right. You're one of the only Pokémon I've caught that way, but I wasn't just going to give up on you before even trying. I figured, like most Pokémon, you'd co around to the idea of getting stronger, eventually." His expression and tone softened, as Goku put a hand on his shoulder, and nodded. This was the right way to do this. His little fire monkey had beco rather wise, with age and training. Sotis. When he wasn't occupied by eating an entire harvest worth of Nanab berries.

Alex let the hurt show, in his big blue eyes. "But all you did was attack . From the day I caught you, until this very day, all you have ever answered with, is violence and hate. I gave you a life of comfort you would never have found in the White Forest. So other Trainer would've caught you, or traded you, or released you sowhere you couldn't survive. I helped you thrive, I gave you access to our female egg layers and cented your genetic lineage, and all I got from you as a result was more hate. More attacks. You wouldn't even speak to , once I could understand you! I finally thought we could work things out when I learned that skill, but no. All it did was show exactly what you'd been saying each ti we t. Swears, hate, and promises of violence." Alex lowered him to the ground, and released his psychic hold. Cinder tensed, fully expecting the arrogant fire hen to attack again, but Goku was the picture of calm. "If we're going to work together, you need to forgive for catching you. I've tried doing right by you, Garuda. The Least you owe for the life you have and enjoy, is a chance to train you properly, especially if you want to keep enjoying said life. We're not ready to Battle together. Not yet. We'll start with talking. There's a lot to catch you up on. Can you at least agree not to attack on sight?"

Hearing Alex's perspective did make Garuda feel slightly guilty. Indeed, now that he thought about his forr ho, it had been a constant fight for food in that forest. His 'ho' had been infested with small itchy bugs that the Redwood Lab had cleaned him of. He'd been kept healthy, happy, and well fed, but Alex was right. All he'd gotten for his attempts at bonding properly were battle-level moves towards his person, and he hadn't once retaliated, until now. Finally, Garuda spoke. "Yea. I…I'm realizing now how I've been acting. The re sight of you made …too angry to even listen. But we can talk, I guess. If you're not busy…"

Alex just smiled at him. "I have ti. Return, all of you. We'll chat back at the training camp." He recalled the three fire typed starters, and bamfed back to their base, satisfied that, finally, progress towards having a Blaziken, a naturally adamant one at that, who had the Speed Boost ability, had been made. He hoped that one day, he and Garuda would look back at the start of their relationship and be able to laugh.

The Warrior, The Spy, and The Ninja

Maromnis crouched low amidst the wooden posts that were acting as his targets. He'd studied the ancient Japanese masters of the art of the sword since evolving into a Samurott, and Alex had encouraged this. Leo had even suggested several ani, and once Shippuden wrapped up, they were moving on to Dark Clover. The crouched Samurott from another era took a long breath, and then he struck with both Scalchops in a flash of movent that was starting to reach the speeds needed for the World Tournant.

The logs were perfectly sliced in half. As they flew into the air from the force of the cut, a swarm of Water Shuriken, undoubtedly also inspired by their ninja ani binge, nailed each log with improving aim. Before the shuriken had even landed though, rapidly fired dual-handed Snipe Shots had impacted them with blinding speed. As Alex examined the combined attacks, he nodded, satisfied.

"I was worried that using the candy would weaken you, but you've all grown into your new forms remarkably quick, and your Signature Moves at least are looking good." The three water type starters moved behind him in a line as he spoke, and Jas was the last to appear from his camouflage, and nod. "Maromnis." Alex addressed the Samurott first. "You'll want to work with Arthur, Arbor, and Revan, when he returns. Their various sword styles will help hone yours into sothing truly special. Work on your elental attacks until then." The Samurott gave him a dutiful nod, and got to work with his clone of Alex, that was set to follow him around as he trained.

"Kage." The black skinned Greninja nodded at the speaking clone of his Trainer with a sharp grunt. "Masterful work, both with the Shuriken, and running up that tree. You're a Special Attacker, so you'll want to work on Dark Pulse next. Try making it faster, and don't forget to condense it too." Kage nodded again, and he and his clone bamfed elsewhere to practice.

"And Jas." Alex said, turning to his own charge. "Your aim has greatly improved. All we need now are your coverage Moves, and Moves that will help you move around quickly." Like the others, Jas nodded, but then he spoke, too.

"After my first Trainer abandoned , I never thought I'd get to this point. And I still have so far to climb." He sighed heavily.

The clone assigned to him raised an eyebrow. "You haven't ntioned your first Trainer before. Would you mind talking about him?"

Jas pondered quietly for a mont, and then nodded. "His na was…erm…he went by Miko. I know that much. He taught a bunch of Moves, and imdiately challenged the…Grass Gym Leader of…Galar, probably. It was a Double Battle. We got crushed. I'd had a few road Battles on our way there, and I had a basic grasp of Ice Beam, but those two Gym Leaders completely crushed us. I don't know who the other Gym Leader was. She was strong, though."

Alex could guess what ca next, but he let Jas continue. "It was all downhill from there. He kept trying to force to evolve, and I just wasn't ready. I was scared, weak, and that woman he'd traveled with eventually suggested replacing ." Jas sighed, and a single tear appeared in his eyes. "Miko…agreed. Almost instantly. It…it broke my heart. He took her Scorbunny as his starter instead, and admittedly their color sches did match, and it was the woman who traded in to the Professor for another Sobble. It was…weird though. I couldn't see too well from inside my ball, but Sonia seed…dazed when she did it. At first she'd said no to trading in, and then that woman…Zabrina, that was her na, she did…sothing, and before I knew it she was given her pick of the other Sobble, and just left there. Sonia eventually turned back to normal, but by then Zabrina was long gone with the new Sobble, and I had serious trust issues. I denied sixty seven other Trainers, until You showed up."

Alex put a large hand on the Inteleon's thin shoulder. "It's not your fault, Jas. Everyone loses Battles, and sotis Humans react poorly to it. Rest assured, I will not be trading you in, unless that's what you want."

Bubble O7 shook his head. "I'm staying right here. I'll help Kage and Nox watch your back. I won't fail again, either. Let's go get stronger." And so, they did. The first thing Alex had him work on was his Ice Beam. If he could make it as accurate as Snipe Shot, they'd be in a good place, as his team's ice type coverage was, much like his fairy type coverage, sowhat lacking. He knew Astrum would be more than enough though, he just had to make sure his water types mastered their ice moves.

Not too far away, Maromnis and his clone of their Trainer were discussing sword play with Lux. The Sword Rotom had ideas, and Alex was properly amused.

"I've been thinking, Alex," Lux said eagerly, "I can change my hilt pretty much at will by this point. We could adjust our style when I do so."

He flew into Alex's hand, and winked at his Trainer, as his hilt beca thicker, more suited for two of even his stupidly large hands, with a familiar t-shaped crossguard that made his nerdy Trainer's eyes widen. Lux's eyes appeared again once he was done, and Alex ignited him, grinning wide. "Strong Style!" Lux shouted, his voice deeper, as the white and black blade was now easily as long as a greatsword, and a greatsword suited for soone who was six feet and five inches tall. Or one hundred and ninety-five centiters. The blade was almost as tall as Alex was, and it felt heavier sohow. He had to adjust his footwork as he swung, but Lux guided his strikes, and Alex knew if they could shift to this style fast enough, it could be devastatingly powerful. "Speed Shift!" Alex shouted, and Lux picked up what he was putting down, as Maromnis watched in awe.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Lux's hilt beca one more akin to a katana, specifically a nodachi (basically a greatsword but with a katana shape), again thanks to his wielder's size. His crossguard this ti was a circle around the hilt and resembled a Taijitu symbol. His hilt also created a scabbard, which was black and shone with white energy while sheathed. It seed to be powered by Lux. Alex assud it would help with his draw speed, but the ti it was taking to manifest was not combat friendly. Still, the white centered and black edged plasma katana blade checked his box for cool factor, and again, after a few swings he realized he and Lux could strike a lot faster in this form. It was a little awkward to sheathe at first, but since he was still a plasma sword, Alex just turned him off, reconnected him to the sheathe, and then ignited the blade again, for a blindingly quick strike that katana wielders were famous for. The Aerial Ace technique had been developed by one such swordsman, and it was that sa series of sword strokes Alex and Lux used now. They had work to do, training that would have to be done with his pri body, but the result would be much more effective self defense against opponents with, for example, connecting dual scythes.

Not to be outdone, Maromnis looked at his own shell swords. Typically, they were referred to as 'seamitars', but he found he disliked the triangular shape they had. No sword he'd seen had such a poorly designed hilt, too. He used Razor Shell as Alex and Lux slashed their way through the Dragon Style's sword strikes, Maromnis willed the water energy to take a new shape. He made a proper grip as Alex and Lux noticed what he was up to, a ridged one that fit perfectly with his fingers, and wouldn't slide in his hand. The 'seamitar' was now more like a 'seatana' in terms of shape, and as the watery blade curved, Maromnis guided his control of the typed energy to rework his forearm sheathes as well. The whitish tan bone-like material that acted as his scabbard seed to change easily, especially once he tried putting his new seatanas away.

He crouched low then, and perford a rapid Razor Shell in the air, blinking in surprise when the x-shaped water energy went so fast, it flew off of his seatanas. "Masterfully done, Maromnis." Alex said, as Lux whooped in the air. "It's like a…Water Typed Psycho Cut. Keep practicing, until Arthur tells you sword-users to gather."

For his part, Kage watched his friends as they continued to practice, but once again, mastery of Dark Pulse eluded him. He wanted to, like his father, learn it without a TM, which was pretty much the only move Alex had let him not learn like that. Because he was a dark type, he'd get it eventually, and doing it naturally promised a more solid control over dark typed energy, which was sothing his team actually lacked. Many could use dark moves sure, but actual Dark Type Pokémon were few in number. Nox spoke for them, since Ictus preferred not to, and even with Shadow, his Umbreon, and Noir, who would soon beco dark typed with his presud evolution to a Muertan owscarada, there were few. Tyranus would also beco dark eventually, but Alex knew the little Larvitar was, at the mont, the most underleveled of his team. He didn't truly know if he'd be a Tyranitar by the end of their training. Pupitar took ti and high quality soil to evolve, but luckily for them, Selva Muerta was naturally quite fertile.

"I will deal with Dark Energy later." Kage declared to his clone of his Trainer. "For now…I wish to resu our hunt for new brothers, in this forest of powerful Pokémon."

Alex was quiet for a bit, but Kage waited patiently, rightly assuming he was ntally figuring out where mbers of his team were currently training. Many were training hard against the jungle's denizens, and finding a partner near one of those battles would be difficult, probably. Finally, he said, "I'll bamf us near the Rain Sage, and we'll search around there." Within ten minutes, his pri body had recalled Kage and Noir, before Teleporting to his anchor near the Sage's doorstep. He had no intention of bothering the large, friendly creature with the potent odor, but he did separate a clone with Kage as his pri body and went off to the northeast with Noir, where they had been told they could find his thod of evolution. With them on their way, the clone of Alex and Kage ventured the opposite direction and headed into the jungle.

The going was slow, especially since the grass types lurking in the trees Kage insisted on traveling through loved trying to attack a water type that they saw as a free al. Luckily for Kage, he had mastered Aerial Ace, and from that, with Blaze's help, had learned a bootleg version of Air Slash. He was no flying type, but he did have fantastic control over type energy as a special attacker, and a ninja. Naturally, he had turned his Air Slash into more of an Air Shuriken with repetition, but the damage dealt was the sa, and it drove off most grass types looking to eat him. It took most of the day, but eventually, Kage stopped in his tracks as he sensed a surge in grass typed energy that could only have co from a natural ability. An ability belonging to a species that Alex sought.

Slowly, they made their way towards this source of grass energy, Kage in the trees, and his oversized Trainer on the ground. If he'd tried jumping through the foliage like his ninja frog, he would've sounded like an Emboar on the rampage, and even on the ground, his stupidly large shoes crunched through the underbrush of the rainforest very obviously. Then, finally, Alex saw their target, and he pulled a Luxury Ball from within his bag, which oddly enough stayed connected across all its copies.

Their target was a young Grookey, likely a few weeks old at most, judging by how fresh his whacking stick was. It still had small leaf sprouts, and a weak, thin top but as he whacked things, it would likely take on the usual blunt and vaguely drum stick shape. He was sitting cross legged, the bottoms of his tiny feet pressed together, with his long but fresh stick laying across his lap. He had a cute smile on his monkey face, and his equally cute eyes opened wide as Alex ca closer, hands in his pockets. Gren waited quietly, in the trees. "Hello there."

The tiny grass monkey sniffed the air around the human and looked him over. Alex looked around, the picture of casualness. "Are your parents around, little guy? Or are you on your own already?" While most Rillaboom stuck together, it wasn't unheard of for male Grookey to be pushed into the wilds on their own at a young age. Their groups typically were composed either of a male and his harem, or a few males, who jived together with their drums and used their strength to keep their groups safe. Galar's Rillaboom were much, much kinder than those in the Jungle of Death. Still though, banishing a Pokémon this young was…just wrong.

The Grookey blinked slowly, as he found he could process the human's words. Pokéspeech was still new to him, and he'd never heard Common either, but he understood every word coming from the human's mouth, which was refreshing. "My…own. My father…angry. Did not like…my…" The Grookey struggled to convey his next word and gestured to the blossoming foliage around him. Then, Alex understood.

"Your Ability. Grassy Surge. You empower the terrain around you with Grass Type Energy when you Battle. Or in your case…naturally." He felt a chill down his spine, as he realized how powerful the Grassy Terrain was, so soon after he'd been born. The healing effect was actually reaching him, too. It was strong enough to make a presumably powerful Rillaboom nervous enough to boot out a baby from his family group. If he could but train it…his grass types would be even more unstoppable. "You're so young, though. Did your mom really leave you out here alone?"

The Grookey smiled wide at him, though he couldn't hide the sadness in his big eyes. "Not alone. Have Eterna!"

Alex raised an eyebrow, and he sensed Gren tense up. Unlike his other dark types, Gren could still listen to and use their team's ntal network thanks to his species psychic abilities. It also helped that his father had been Champion ranked and had long since awakened his own psychic abilities.

Then, Alex saw what Gren was already tracking. lting out of the gloom of the jungle behind the ideal Grookey, was a massive Annihilape. As it solidified on this plane, Alex didn't sense rage from it, hot or cold. In fact, its mind, such as it was, seed…balanced, to him. Angry, yes, but a mix of burning fury and cold anger that resulted, oddly enough, in a state of relative calm, by all appearances. Alex could tell though, it was always angry and had been for a very long ti. This was clearly an ancient ghost type. The tingle in his spine grew. He wasn't arrogant enough to hope, but if he could convince them both to join their team…

"GreeEEeetings…Human." The dead rage monkey screeched. "You speEEak like a Harmonia…how?"

"Well…" Alex began, not surprised that a ghost this old knew of the ancient bloodline. He then elaborated on how he'd taken on the mantle that had belonged to every Tar of the Original Dragon, "...and after I opened my mind to the Universe and donned the Harmonia's crown, I could understand Pokémon as easily as I understand Humans."

The Annihilape let out a hacking, shrieking sound then, and a glob of dark ectoplasm shot from its dead nostrils. "Nyaaagh…much better." The ancient ape shrieked, quieter. "What do you want with my friend… 'Tar of the First Dragon?'" The dead ape said with intense sarcasm. Annihilape did not seem to believe his claim, but then, Alex couldn't bla them. To a Pokémon, it was like he was claiming to be a partner to one like unto a God, from their perspective. A natural power. An entity so strong, it was ordered by Arceus to defend an entire continent. He might as well have claid he'd tad and partnered with a hurricane.

"I'm building a team of Pokémon. The strongest in the world. I intend to make them World Champions…and a Grookey like your friend here would be…a very powerful ally. As would you, old one."

The Annihilape laughed, which sounded like a mocking noise sowhere between a screech and a huff. It was grating on the ears, and actually managed to irritate Alex, though he didn't let it show. "A bold claim, Human. Almost as bold as your first. Tell …what will you do with such power?"

Alex nodded and could tell now what the dead ape thought of humanity in general, and honestly, it wasn't off base. Humans had a garbage track record of handling phenonal power responsibly. "I do not seek to conquer or make war. I despise war as a concept. I want my team to be so large, so indisputably powerful that no one, Human or Pokémon, dares to ss with their strength. To be so strong, they don't even try starting a war, or at least, stop once one of my partners arrives to diate. The long term, ideal goal is to stop all wars completely. Across the entire planet, and for once, have it enter a state of true peace." Though the Imperium was in a truce with Eous, there were still many regions in Old Africa that quietly, and sotis not so quietly, had people who opposed the Imperator's rule. Once those conflicts were settled in the Imperium's usual manner, through blood and conquest, Alex expected a renewed assault on Eous. He hoped he'd bought a few years of peace before that, however.

The Annihilape was quiet for a long ti, and eventually, its Grookey friend started getting bored, losing focus, tiny finger up his nose as he looked around at the trees. From what Alex could tell, the foliage seed to be speaking to the young ape. Finally, the ancient ghost spoke. "I too…Dream of a peaceful Earth. After existing for so long…I deeply desire peace. If this is your goal…I will lend my power to it. Only you Humans can advance to a higher level of Strength, now, I know this…I would have you, when the ti arrives, put in charge of maintaining Selva Muerta. Do this, and you will have my strength, and my little friend too, if he wishes to grow strong."

Alex smirked. "It won't just be you handling the Jungle of Death." He stated flatly, "But I can help you turn this into a…sowhat peaceful jungle. Maybe we can curb all the death and killing but keep the raucous nature of competition that has made you all so powerful."

The dead ape exhaled a cloud of frost from its decayed snout. "I desire thissss…" It hissed. "I Will bring peace…to my jungle. And then…we will rena it." And by doing so, the ancient Annihilape believed it would also, finally, achieve so asure of peace as well.

"And I'll help!" The Grookey declared, with a mighty thwack of his stick. "Make strong too, Human! Then I can surpass my father and lead all the Rillaboom!" His words weren't that articulate, but Alex grokked his aning from his tone, and the fire in his young eyes. He may have been young, but he did understand what 'strongest Pokémon on the planet' ant. He was, Alex could tell, rather smart.

The Annihilape had a na that was more like a title, when translated, but it was what all the local Pokémon called him, as they walked towards the team's training grounds. Eternape. The Grookey also had a na. His mother had called him Kurchak, and Alex didn't have an objection to him keeping the moniker if he liked it. Eternape joined his fighting types, and very quickly, Arthur had found soone worth sparring with again. Kurchak was Teleported to the clone with Isamu and the others who still needed experience or items to evolve, and the training continued.

The Dark Stone

Alex's pri body was walking alongside Noir, his Floragato, as they headed away from the psychic anchor he had by the Rain Sage. Professor Cashapona claid that Roca Sombramusgo, as the locals called it, was to the northeast, and Alex followed Noir for this. He could sense the evil stone, but its darkness made actually heading towards it quite difficult, as if it didn't want to be found.

Noir was undeterred though, not even stopping to pick up the fallen berries they passed on the ground. Alex tried grabbing those they ca close to, but as his hand only t shadow after the third attempt, he realized they were illusions ant to guide lesser minds away from, presumably, the stone that they sought. Each ti the darkness tried guiding him away from his destination.

It took a solid two hours of traversing the jungle in the overpowering afternoon humidity and heat before they finally ca within sight of the stone, and Alex had to stop. "Any further, and the clones will vanish." Alex said to Noir, breaking the silence between them. "Just touch the stone, and co straight back to , Noir. We can test out your new powers, but we need to stay together. I have a bad feeling about this part of the jungle."

"Evolve and co back to your side." Noir affird. "I can do that." As he walked off, Alex frowned, as the clever cat had not said that he would. Alex stayed quiet though, choosing to trust in his partner.

As Noir approached the stone, which was covered in dark green moss and various glowing fungi that seed to reach towards him the closer he got, he realized that every part within reach was covered in the fungi, and his instinct was telling him to avoid touching the strange multicolored but pinkish limned flora.

"I wouldn't touch that, if I were you."

Noir leapt back from the evil rock at the sound of the sly, feminine tone, and looked upwards. There, atop a tree branch that he wasn't sure had been hanging over the large stone before, was a seemingly disembodied smile, wide and sharp and full of fangs. Before Noir could respond, the rest of the owscarada appeared around the mad smile. He was imdiately smitten by her beauty. Lithe and strong, her dark green leaf mask fit perfectly with her head and ears, and her striped, green coat was well grood, for a wild Pokémon. She had a small leafy mane of deep green leaves around her neck, and small pink and green flowers seed to both orbit her person and grow naturally in her fur at all tis.

"Why shouldn't I touch it? I want to evolve." He told the vision of beauty before him.

She just grinned wider. "Those plants, you see them? They were once like you. Floragato. Seeking to be strong. Embracing madness, or attempting to, at the whim of a Human. Had they evolved naturally, they would have lived. Turn back, handso." She said with a purr, "I would hate to see you beco just another fungus, among us."

Noir's sharp eyes narrowed. "I ca here at my own whim, and I seek this form because I dislike the other. It's…it's not what I'm supposed to be. I can feel it."

The beautiful Muertan owscarada leaned her head towards him, with interest. "Oh? Perhaps you Are worthy. Well far be it from to stop you…just understand, touching that stone will turn you Mad."

Noir tilted his head. "Mad?"

She chuffed at him and rolled onto her back. Noir gulped, as his eyes were drawn by instinct to her lithe body. He understood how Alex felt now, with Jess, and 'not having the words' to accurately describe her beauty. Noir wished the redhead were here, she would be a fine tar for a fine feline like her. "Regular owscarada use their Darkness for tricks, illusions, and act as magicians. We of Selva Muerta embrace it completely…and doing so turns us a bit Mad."

Noir's brow furrowed. "I don't understand."

The flirtatious feline purred in thought. "You know how Humans smile when they're happy, and grimace when they kill?" Noir nodded, recalling how Alex and the others had looked, in their mories of the war. "Well, I used to be the sa way. But now I smile when I kill, and grimace when my prey escapessss…" She finished with a sharp hiss. "Therefore…I am Mad. We're all Mad, here. The Jungle's darkness infects every inch of this land."

Noir was quiet for a long mont, the only sound he could hear, the swishing of her perfect, fluffy tail. "I'm touching it anyway." He declared, and the owscarada seed pleased by his confidence in his choice. First, he made a makeshift warning sign from leaves, vines, and a branch. Then, he urinated on it, not to mark territory like so lesser canine, but to warn any Floragato who ca after him that touching the fungus was dangerous.

"How kind." The owscarada purred, smirking at the futility of his efforts. Efforts she had once made herself.

Noir ignored her and launched a vine towards the branch she laid upon. Her ears fell back, and with a blur of movent, she occupied another branch, guiding it towards him with her power. "I see Madness has made you skittish." He teased from her old branch.

She nonchalantly licked a green striped paw, only one eye on him as she retorted, "One does not so brazenly approach a Lady."

Noir ignored her again, which seed to work for her, judging by the scent his nose was instinctively drawn to, wafting stronger through the air. It was enough to make his head spin, but he stayed focused. If he was going to take a female like her, he intended to do it when he evolved.

He looked down at the stone and nodded. Sure enough, there were four gaps in the fungi, large enough for his paws. He still didn't trust it though. While not his best move, he launched an empowered Magical Leaf from his palm at the glowing fungi, ripping them to shreds and ensuring he had room to land thanks to how much power he expended at once.

"So callous towards the corpses of our kind." The female remarked, watching him with both eyes now.

He smirked confidently at her. "I can't afford to turn into fungus. Seeing beauty like yours has…inspired to live. And grow." He looked down again as she smirked slightly at him. "By any ans necessary."

With the landing cleared, Noir leapt down fearlessly onto the rock and landed on all fours. Almost imdiately, he began to glow bright white. In the distance, Alex muttered with so worry in his tone, "Mukking finally…" He could feel the inherent darkness of this place warping his sight, and he didn't like it. He wanted to evolve Noir and get the Muk out of here. It was not a place for psychics. Or humans.

Alex watched the light of Noir's evolution with Leo's shared sight, and while there was natural dark typed energy everywhere, it did not try to smother or suffuse that bright white light. In fact, it seed to recoil from it. As the light faded, a spinning pink and green flower bud ca hurtling towards him, but he didn't move to avoid it, as he saw it wouldn't hit him. It was strange, he noted, that he had predicted the trajectory just by looking at the move and seeing its arc. He wondered if that might not be the result of fusing a tang and a Kadabra to his ntal network.

He glanced at the impact crater the Seed Bomb had left, and read runes in common, or rather, Noir's attempt at them, and what letters looked like to his eyes. They were more rounded and curved, like Unown letters, but Alex still managed to read them; 'See you back at camp. Later.' followed by a paw print that Alex recognized as Noir's, if a bit larger and shaggier. He had inspected his grass cat's paws often, after the first few tis he cut his own vine, which was, according to the Pokénet, not supposed to happen with Floragato, so he recognized the lines on the paw, and once again, his eyes were sharper and easily picking up on the details.

In the distance, Alex heard sothing crashing through the jungle, as well as the cries of several Pokémon being hit by moves, a brief silence, followed by a lot of yowling. From two different Pokémon. Smirking, Alex figured Noir's situation out, more or less, and it seed his mate was testing him. Or maybe an all-out ambush was just how the locals responded to seeing such a bright flash in such a dark place. Either way, Alex left him to it. He was high enough level to survive, and this was supposed to be the ideal environnt for his species. He could make it a few hundred miles southward, probably.

As Noir felt Alex bamf away, he knew in his heart that he'd be returning to the team. As entrancing as this female was, his human had trusted him, newly evolved and on his own, and left him the choice to return later, or not. Local Pokémon of various types ca at him, as he chased after the faint form of the female owscarada, leaping through the trees just ahead of him. They barely slowed him down. His Aerial Ace and new ability made him overwhelmingly strong. Said ability essentially turned Seed Bomb into a stronger version of Flower Trick, or perhaps the original version. The result, was multiple pink and green flowers, orbiting him almost constantly, as they just seed to naturally regrow while he was in a battle. They struck hard and fast, and while Noir marveled at their power, he also felt sohow weaker, defense wise, in this new form. He wondered if he might not now be what his brothers called a 'glass cannon', which was apparently a fast attacker with poor defenses. There were a few on the team, but that just ant he had to dodge, as they did, and listen to Alex when he called for one.

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Alex wasn't here now, though, so Noir was forced to fight strategically, brutally, and quickly enough to keep up with his quarry. He managed to do so, though the effort had tired him, he was still conscious and capable. It was a great workout. They finally stopped in a dense part of the jungle that any larger or less lithe creature would have difficulty moving through. Within that tangle of vines, Noir was led to a stand of trees all unnaturally curved in towards each other, to create a safe, and enclosed area to sleep, or drag young, virile males into.

For three days, Noir had his virility tested thoroughly, but he erged stronger for it, more confident, after leaving the female satisfied and slumped in her leafy bed. He left her with the nonchalant attitude of a male feline and prowled easily through Selva Muerta without so much as a backward glance.

He tested his new abilities on the locals that, he found, were just a bit too vicious to their fellow Pokémon. His unsettling grin, and ability to camouflage in such grassy terrain unsettled most of his targets. When surrounded by foliage, he could shift his naturally sowhat striped coat to match his surroundings, and blend perfectly. His Flower Bombs, as he called them, also seed capable of bending the light around his fur, and he used them to hide his eyes as he spied on the jungle's inhabitants.

Disappointingly, all he found was almost mindless, instinct driven Pokémon who only seed to care about two things: reproduction, and their next al. Berries did grow plentifully; the only problem was that anyone trying to eat one usually had it nabbed by an unseen adversary too small to reach the berry trees. Chasing after the thief also, usually, found the berry enjoyer drawing the attention of a more predatory and morally grey species, like Liepard.

There also seed to be a general consensus among the locals, that the stronger one's prey was, the more nutritious the al it made, and the stronger the predator would beco in turn. Noir found that to be nonsense, but he did have to begrudgingly admit that there were so frighteningly powerful Pokémon in this jungle, several of whom seed to almost see through his camouflage. A wild owscarada might have struck at them on instinct and tried running, but Noir knew better. They couldn't break him if they couldn't find him.

The only one that ca genuinely close was a Muertan Arbok, and a massive example of that species. Noir knew it had to be around ninety or higher, in human terms of asuring a Pokémon's power. His instincts guided him away from the massive poison dark type, and towards the pillar of frost that he assud was Gelauros, testing the endurance of those weak to ice moves. He grimaced, as he knew he was among that number, and would be joining them on his return.

He took his ti over that remaining day and a half trek, though his pace increased, when he felt Gel's frost suddenly stop.

The Archon

Three Days After Noir Evolved… - Selva Muerta

Fire. Death. A trail of bodies was all that Archon left in his wake with each thunderous step forward that he took. The titanic bridge dragon was barely even noticing the feeble and forced attacks used by their enemies. They were the kind of humans who had been alive before Pokémon started appearing, and very quickly, had figured out how to forcefully turn these new 'magic animals' into sentient weapons. William Draciel (Dra-see-el) looked upon what he had wrought, and silently wept, for while his enemies were indeed the absolute worst of the remaining Old Earth governnts, they were still his people, living in his Empire.

Will was not the only one with tears. Looking up, he saw the Original Dragon, and that sight, is what jolted Alexander Redwood into a sudden state of lucidity within his dream. Tao looked…more primal. Rugged. Less refined, like he currently was. It was like he was a prototype of what he would go on to beco. He also had so sort of an icy chin beard going on, that didn't really work well with his features. Alex didn't have long to take in the changes between past and present, however, as Tao then did sothing that he did recognize. His tail rose into the air, and with the shifting nature of ice energy, fused the designs of both a thermonuclear reactor and an electromagnetic generator. The resulting machine propelled him across the sky as he roared, "Enough! I shall be the one to take this burden! And end this madness once and for all!"

The man, one of Tao's previous Tars, Will, apparently, gasped as he watched in horror. "No… please, no…" The despairing man fell to his knees, and the tears ca freely, now. He was clad in a black Haori, with gold trim and accents, a gold and black Taijitu swirl on his back, not all that different from what Alex wore. Indeed, his pants were the sa as Alex's, black and white and from Tao's realm, there was no question. He had skin as pale as Alex's, black hair streaked with grays tied up into what Alex recognized as a classic Unovan ponytail hairstyle worn by their ancient warriors. As the man stood, a golden aura pulsed around his body, and Alex knew imdiately who he was looking at. His predecessor. The First. He could be no other. That ant that this…was likely the mont that Tao had forcibly put down the last violent remnants of the oligarchical governntal structure and entity that had once called itself Arica.

They seed to be standing atop an ancient stone fort of so kind, but then, Alex realized it was actually the Dragonspiral Tower. He spied Tao's nature garden on a lower tier, while this, the top, was ho to a series of white pillars long broken and a space large enough for Tao to land. Alex nodded to himself. eting the Original Dragon had once been a lot more ceremonial, especially compared to the ease and casual nature of the modern thod. He definitely preferred modernity, but looking around, he could see how that primal beast of a dragon, descending from the sky to treat with humanity, had a certain…epicness to it.

As Alex followed Will up to the edge of the tower, a bright flash of light erupted before them, on the horizon. Alex tried to get his bearings, and figure out what direction that was, but the stars were different, and the land was unrecognizable, and unhelpfully obscured by tons of…pinkish mist? He blinked, but yes, from up here it definitely had a pink coloration to it as it wafted through the forest below. Strange. But probably normal, for this era. He looked back at the light, and his eyes widened as he recognized the mushroom cloud forming in the wake of a nuclear detonation. No army had a chance of surviving that.

"I don't know who you are…" The first Dragon Emperor said, "But I can tell you are not from my era. The future, then?" He looked directly at Alex then, whose eyes widened. He was channeling the Light, with familiar ease, and apparently that gave him the ability to see Alex through whatever strange dream sorcery was happening in his head and projecting him into the past. Alex nodded, finding that, probably because he was physically deeply asleep, he couldn't talk or respond. All that ca out was a weak gasp. He couldn't psychically project his words, either.

"Well then…to you, strange man from the future…look upon my folly and despair. This is…the death of a great experint. The final nail in a coffin that's been being nailed shut for a while now…the last vestiges of the old world were just blown away, reduced to atoms. By the Dragon himself…" He wiped his eyes. "I don't know how you are here, or if you can truly understand what it is you are witnessing. The most peaceful being I know…just sacrificed his morals so that my team would not fall to blood-madness." He gestured below, and sure enough, Alex made out the Alpha sized forms of ten Pokémon, most of which were dragons, fighting against an army of other Pokémon being controlled by devices that Alex knew had, in ancient tis, been used to subjugate Pokémon with brutal jolts of typed energy they were weak to. In his ti, all such devices had been irreparably smashed, and all hints of their schematics erased by the Unovan governnt.

"My friends would eventually win, but…the Dragon has decided to end things himself before more innocent Pokémon are killed. He is…he is getting involved personally, and as usual…involving a Legend in our problems cos with a steep death toll for Humanity." Will took a deep breath as he sighed. "Learn from our mistakes, future man. And if you can…" His eyes noticed Alex's leg garb and widened in recognition before they moved back to the ghostly intruder's, "Do not let the Original Dragon lose himself in war. Take at my word…he is better suited as a General than a soldier."

With that, his aura flared, his black hair beca golden and unbound, like Connor's transformation, and he shot into the air like a golden teor. As Alex watched him go, he awoke to a pair of floating, golden eyes. His first imdiate clue that what he'd seen was not a trick or illusion. "Alex…at last. Your Pokémon inford that you would not wake. I sensed a foreign power in your mind as you slept. Are you well? You seem…pale."

It took Alex a second to separate himself from what he'd sensed as the first Dragon Emperor, and he nodded at Tao's question. "I…saw the First. My predecessor. What was his na…William Draciel. Whatever wanted to see him…it didn't feel hostile. I was deeper in the dream than usual, though. And…he saw . Sohow, the first Dragon Emperor acknowledged my presence."

Tao was silent for a long ti, as his eyes blazed with gold. "I see. You are correct. It is no enemy that did this. Let know if it happens again."

With that almost infuriating lack of information or context, Tao vanished, and Alex sighed heavily. He groaned to his feet within his camping tent and exited with an army of clones behind him. They set to making breakfast for their expanding team, and Alex bamfed one of them back ho, to Unova.

New Tork City - Capital Province, Unova

Alex appeared atop the Dragonspiral Tower, which was ho to Tao's garden this ti, in this age. He looked around at his surroundings, trying to divine where the dragon had gone nuclear, but it was useless. Ages had passed between his vision and now, and too much was now different. Icirrus City especially so. Even in the past it had been sowhat small, but these days, the center of the Scale's order needed more to sustain them, and the city had risen in response to that need. Taking over the small bit of route between the tower and the town, Icirrus City could now claim to have battle facilities and items on par with Castelia, with architecture honoring the Dragon that rivaled Opelucid. So residents didn't like the radical change, and Tao had arranged to have another part of the surrounding area developed in a manner that worked with nature, instead of dominating it. The younger generation, of course, had no problem with their ho becoming more like, and connected to, Castelia and the other boroughs.

"First things first…Deino." As Alex looked up where they were typically found, Connor appeared from around one of the hedges, the blonde Seeress from Valaskjalf on his arm. "Speaking of our Dragon Emperor…taking a break, are we?"

"Sothing like that…" Alex said with a smirk. "Y'know, I don't think I've ever actually properly t your friend here." He gestured to the blonde on his arm, who chuckled.

Connor's eyes widened as he realized his longti rival was correct. "Ahh, right. This is Heidr (Hay-dur). Daughter of Lokra. She, uhh, actually just agreed to be my wife, as it turns out."

Alex nodded, as both he and Jess had expected that eventually. Then, Connor's words were processed, and Alex frantically made the clone have the appropriate facial expression as he said, "Congratulations! I'm glad we'll have familial ties to Valaskjalf. It'll give Jess, Folokraan, and any of our daughters a chance to visit."

Heidr just chuckled, "You and your kin are welco any ti, Dovahkiin. But you know this."

"I do." He answered, and before the following silence turned awkward, said, "I should be on my way. I'll leave you two be. You should tell your sister too, Connor."

"I will once she answers her phone." He grumbled, "Let her know, if you see her."

Alex shrugged, "You'll probably see her before I do. It's the cost of having the World Festival and the World Tournant at the sa ti, I suppose. Everyone is occupied with training." With that, he flew into the air, and a few monts later, he saw Connor flying his fiancé into the air with his own powers. Rembering his predecessor's transformation, Alex made a note to try it at so point. Will's had been like…a combination of both the aspects that Connor and Alex had reached the Light with, an aura shield on par with Alex's, and the strange hair-color changing boost that Connor had achieved with physicality and fighting energy. Almost imdiately, Alex wondered if it might not take a balance of both psychic and fighting energy, which would make a lot of sense, given how those types interacted. In a way, they were both opposites, and yet the sa. Different, but connected. Body and mind. Yin and Yang. That, and the fact that they could both lead to Light abilities cented the 'equation', as N would call it, for him.

Alex left it for sothing his main body could practice and focused on his task for this clone; find a worthy Deino, and train him to be on par with the rest of his dragons. As he flew away, he received a psychic ping. He should've known better than to think he could just fly off in his now iconic robe without getting bogged down. "What is it, Joey?" He answered the man's relatively simple mind, which even now was aglow with thoughts of his Raticate.

"Alex! Long ti, my man. There's uhh, there's a bunch of people from Germania who claim they need to see you. Imdiately. Nobody knew where you'd gone off to train though, so they've just been waiting here at the Tower…for a while now…and we're kind of tired of dealing with them."

"Right…sounds like the Drachenfels. I'll be right there." He arced back to the tower's lower level, following Joey's psychic aura as he did so. Naturally, as soon as he entered the tower's main level, the conversing trainees paused, many staring in disbelief. Alex just gave them a smirk and a nod, letting his robe flare as he walked just fast enough to make it do so. He arrived in the common area to see Hassel, alongside two other Dragon Tars, sporting the regal red and gold of the Imperium. Their golden capes had a stylized depiction of Castle Drachenfel on their front and back. The clenched fist of their Imperator clutching a lightning bolt was proudly on display on their chests, as was their apparent disdain at the simple yet comfortable surroundings of the tower.

Their hair was blonde, and their eyes were brownish gold, but Alex could faintly see the familial resemblance to Hassel, who was in the sa clothes he'd worn during their battle. "Ahh, Champion Redwood. I'm glad your people finally got a hold of you."

"Hassel Drachenfel." Alex said, with a nod of respect. "You are welco in our Tower, of course. Is there sothing I can do for you and your clan?"

"Three things!" The aged man shouted unnecessarily loud, but it did serve to draw any eyes that hadn't moved to them already with Alex's arrival. "First…accept my humble apologies. It has co to my attention that I- We have been fed falsehoods and fables about you, and your nature. You, young man, are a fine example of everything a Draconid should aspire to be, and the more I learn of your saga, the more impressed I beco."

"A saga, eh?" Alex said, stroking his beard slightly, as he smirked. "I kind of like that, actually. Like an old Norstad epic..."

"Indeed! For epic can be the only word appropriate when describing sothing as life changing as ending world hunger. By every asure and tric of our people, you are worthy…and thus, the care of Archon now falls to you. The rightful successor to the First Dragon Emperor. This is my second request; I humbly ask that you accept the Ace of your predecessor into your team." He bowed low then and offered Alex the ball. It was ancient in design, and yet just modern enough to incorporate recall technology in the form of a laser beam. This missing link between Apricorn balls and modern Pokéballs had only one drawback that the Trainers who'd used them had simply embraced. The inhabitants could, quite easily, co forth from and return to the ball at will, and even completely refuse to leave it. Modern balls could be left as well, but it was apparently harder to do, and they always ejected the occupant when their Trainer needed them to.

Alex slowly took it, and his eyes widened, as it reacted to being in his palm. Bright whitish gold flashed, and the surrounding Padawans stared in awe at the massive Archaludon that manifested before them. Looking around in disbelief at the relic from the past made real again in modernity, Archon was silent for only a mont as he realized he was not hallucinating, before he suddenly roared so loud all present had to cover their ears.

Alex felt Tao's reaction, and sure enough, an answering roar ca in response. It may have sounded angry or full of fury, but Alex could tell these were simply cries of excitent. Archon couldn't believe the tower was intact. Tao couldn't believe his ancient friend had finally co ho. The tower shuddered, as Tao made his way down.

"I will join your team in ti. I must speak with the Original Dragon first." Archon rumbled. Alex noticed powerful dragons rarely asked for anything, preferring to imply the request with their words.

"Of course, Archon. Tao can send you to us when you're ready. Feel free to roam Unova as you please, just uhh…watch where you step. You're quite a bit bigger than when last you walked here. The sentient dragon bridge nodded and began stomping away. Naturally, quite a few students followed to watch that reunion, leaving Alex and Hassel in relative solitude to continue speaking.

"And the third thing?" Alex asked, with a smirk.

His ears twitched as he heard a strange sound, heavy almost tallic clomping boots, coming towards them. "Ahh, here cos my third request now." Alex turned at Hassel's words and beheld a gigantic human being. Alex was no decent judge of male attractiveness, but this man could only be described as beautiful. Short blonde hair frad his aesthetically perfect face, and atop his head were golden laurels, shaped like a U, that curved around his skull. Mounted onto his armor's energy backpack so that it frad his head, was a tallic golden sun.

His armor had too much detail and golden trimd heraldry for Alex to properly focus on. It was Ultramarine blue, bulky, and had no discernible weak spots. Even the kneepads, which each sported a white U on them frad by green laurels, completely covered the joint. The more he looked the more he marveled at how perfectly each piece must have to fit together to stay mobile and completely armored. Each shoulder pauldron was massive and ornately detailed around the white U that marked him as an Ultramarine. The closer the giant clomped, the heavier Alex realized that armor had to be, and he felt a familiar chill run up his spine as they locked blue eyes on blue eyes and evaluated each other. Once again, Alex found himself looking upwards at one of the Imperator's sons, though where Horus had been pent up rage and an obvious sense of superiority, this man, Roboute Guilliman (Row-boo-tay Gill-E-man), for it could be no other, radiated his superiority with his very aura. It was as obvious as his unnatural height.

Hassel spoke first, as the giant stopped a respectable distance from them, "Alexander Redwood, Victory Champion, and Dragon Emperor, I give you Pri Archon Roboute Guilliman, Strategist Supre of the Imperium of Man, thirteenth son of the Imperator, and lord of the mighty Ultramarines, the largest Legion of Astartes in the Imperium. He has co to participate in the World Tournant." Alex blinked, as that was new information to him. Professor Aristole had claid all twenty Legions were around the sa size, with one or two exceptions that had co out smaller thanks to genetic defects, but he had also warned his information could be outdated. That ant that this giant golden man before him was in command of a force that, when fully utilized, could not be matched by anyone on the planet. The current comparison in terms of strength between the Empire's Scales, and other Trainers in their military, and the average Thunder Warrior, was thirty Trainers to a single Astartes. A loneAstartes. Against the average squad of twelve, it would take five hundred Trainers, with ten partners each. And even then, things would be dire. By every tric, their analysts determined the only way to oppose these genetically engineered killing machines was with numbers, and as many moves as possible. And those tactics would not work on their Librarians, or a Pri Archon.

Alex had no doubt the being before him would take down thousands, if not millions, before he started feeling fatigue. From boredom. ntally, he inford Tao that the Brain Trust's request to create less bulky power armor was approved and would have whatever materials they required for mass production. The only sliver of a chance his Empire had against a Legion of Astartes lay in numbers, but better armor could drastically close the gap. He'd been holding off, because of the peace, but seeing just how far ahead the Imperium was made his instincts flare in a mix of panic and warning. This was a being who, if he was inclined to, could probably pulp even his durable body with a single swing of one of his massive, bulky armored arms. With teams in the eighties and nineties in terms of level, and armor that could hold up to a Pri Archon, their odds were much better.

Finally, after a few monts, his clone said, "Hello there," and started acting normally once again. He had no doubt Guilliman had already, or was in the process of, figuring out he was a psychic clone. It'd be hard to tell now that it had his full attention. "I spoke with the League, and we agreed to acknowledge you as your Imperium's envoy, and to allow you to roam our territory and participate in the Tournant. The rules are available from any Rotom Drone, and to register, you'll want to go to a Pokémon Center… Although…"

Guilliman raised a golden eyebrow at his pause. "Forgive if this is considered rude, Pri Archon…but the ahh, armored regalia, might intimidate people too much. You'll need to interface with regular Trainers to progress in the Tournant."

Guilliman nodded slowly. "I understand." A flash of blinding blue light illuminated the entire floor of the tower with his power. When it faded, the giant man appeared to be clad in a more casual outfit, more akin to a dress, a toga, Alex believed they were called on Olympius. Blue, white, and gold high-quality robes now adorned his goldish tan skinned titanic fra, and golden bands bearing the Ultramarine's badge were on his wrists. "I trust I will be safe, while I compete. Even so, I advise you not to try attacking . Even without our armor, a Pri Archon will not fall easily."

Alex gave him an understanding nod. "I'll assign one of our Scale's teams to unobtrusively keep an eye on your well-being, just in case soone tries sothing. I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding a strong opponent, or at least soone willing to test a son of the Imperator. Just rember, we do not kill our opponents. Ever."

Guilliman nodded sagely. "I have read your rules of Battle and find them satisfactory. My team is also willing to comply." Guilliman placed a hand over his heart then and bowed slightly. "I hope this is the first step to true peace between the Imperium and the rest of the world, Dragon Emperor."

Alex bowed in return. "If there is a path to such a future Pri Archon, we shall find it in friendly competition. I wish you luck. We may even et in the final rounds, if you Battle strong enough foes. The stronger they are, the more points they're worth. Feel free to stay in the Tower while you are here." With that concluded, Hassle and his Imperium entourage left with Guilliman, and Alex bamfed to Opelucid City before anything else could bog him down. The fact that he now owned one of the first Dragon Emperor's Pokémon still hadn't quite hit him yet, and he genuinely wondered how people would react to a son of a tyrant participating in the World Tournant. Of all the Imperator's sons, he was glad Guilliman had been the one chosen. Alex recalled him having by far one of the best temperants of the Imperator's sons, rivaled only by his white winged brother, Sanguinius.

He should have known better than to think he'd make it through a city like Opelucid unimpeded. Fans, he didn't mind, and by this point, thanks to a ssage from Lux on his Chatter account apparently, they just shouted out the code phrase for an autograph and seed to understand he was too busy for a face to face with every single person. Maybe once he mastered his clone trick and understood the cost it took more thoroughly, that would be possible, but for now, his fans were reduced to shouting, "I'm preserving the Emperor's Groove!"

Thankfully, he and Lux were not the only ones who found that amusing. He sent a short-lived clone with his pen their way, and headed for Victory Road, only to find yet another figure blocking his path. This one, he happily engaged with, as his opinion of the man had improved, from what Geralt had ntioned of his efforts.

"Director Colress!" He shouted as he approached, and the scientist clad in his ever-advancing gray full body tech suit nodded at him as he looked up from the screen on his arm.

"Alex Redwood. Just the man I was looking for." They closed the distance and shook hands. "I have news for you. We finally sorted through Dengeki's Stargate data. It's…not good. Ninety percent of the Human colonies that spread out across the Milky Way in the past are now deceased, as far as he can tell. The few still intact have essentially reverted to caven, the last ti he was able to see them."

Alex smirked. "Sounds like they need so uplifting."

Colress nodded. "I am of the sa mind. We've already started to make contact, but so of them are very violent…"

Alex's smirk widened. "Why Director, it sounds like you need so aid for that endeavor. I'd love to help out."

Colress gave him a knowing look. "You just want to visit another planet. Trainer to your core, you are. We haven't found any…unknown Pokémon, and the few we have seen seem…isolationist. Like they want to be left alone. They also seem to know what the Stargates are, and Dengeki seems to let them through as needed. We hypothesize that quite a few of our local species from Earth, entirely wild and very much on their own initiative, have already gone through the gates, and perhaps have been doing so for quite so ti."

"That is…deeply fascinating, Director. When I have things in hand here, I think I'd like to traverse the Stargates for a ti. I'd like to hear why these Pokémon left, and what they've been doing since, in their own words. I think my team would like that too. So of them, anyway. I wonder if clones would hold up through Stargates…"

Colress blinked at him. "Did…you say 'clones'?" Alex nodded, and Colress's smile beca wider. "I thought that was just a conspiracy…you really can psychically clone yourself!?"

Alex nodded again. "My highest amount at once is a few hundred, but I couldn't do much more than have them answer questions. So far there doesn't seem to be a limit on distance that they can travel, provided I utilize the ley lines correctly, and I have to individually control all of them, so it's not actual cloning, just one mind controlling multiple Psychic Energy bodies."

Colress just stared at him. "You do understand no Human mind could do that, right? The amount of sensory input from that many sources across that far a distance would drive a Human being to madness."

Alex just shrugged. "We're entering a new era, Director. The limits of the Human mind are not set in stone. Not so long ago, the idea of training sixty Pokémon at once was thought to be impossible, if not impractical. Now, for , it's very much possible. Heck, I could and intend to train more, sixty is just the start. And I'm not the only Champion with psychic potential to expand their roster."

"Speaking of ridiculously large rosters…I hear you're planning on finding a Deino. If you're interested, I have a particularly powerful but ornery specin in stasis up in Lantea City. We studied him all we could, but he's been deed too dangerous to release into the wild. If he evolves as he is now…he could level the Capital province. He's not fond of Humans in general…but he doesn't deserve to stay in stasis forever. I figured if anyone could help him, and want to help him, it would be a Trainer of your caliber. I've seen so of your new catches, despite your secrecy. Not one of them is unimpressive. And that Ceruledge…" He shuddered from how cool it had been to his inner nerd, to see a Mandalorian helm combined with the fiery dark knight that was Ceruledge, or, in this case apparently, Revan. "His swords were even purple and red."

Alex smirked, as he'd very much pegged Colress as a nerd. A nerd of culture, no less, for while the Pokémon Wars Saga was a proper epic, doing everything the originals had, but essentially with Pokémon, all three of those trilogies were seen as more of a continuation of the much, much older Star Wars. But the real fans were the ones who dove into Old Earth's pop culture, where one could find classic titles like Knights of the Old Republic, or Skyrim. Colress was very obviously such a nerd, if he understood what a Mandalorian was. "Do you want a bamf back up there?" Alex asked. "This clone's purpose is to catch a Deino after all." Colress spent a solid two minutes then, examining his body then, in a scientific manner, before his curiosity was satisfied.

"Yes, I could use a ride." Colress finally said, offering a gloved hand, which was also a part of his tech suit. With that, the two n bamfed to Luna.

Monster Zero

Lantea City Containnt Lab - Luna

Alex stared at the sleeping Deino before him with a look of uncertainty. Being a Unovan, technically, he had of course considered raising a Hydreigon at so point. The only problem was their species' temperant. Even with Champion Nate's now sowhat outdated guide to raising one, the food cost alone would have crippled his journey. They had large appetites correlated to their size, and a seriously bad attitude that only got worse with each evolution, another hindrance to his journey, and that had been enough to disqualify them from his Ace slot.

And yet, now, here he was. They had the young, but rather impressively large dark type, who had to be close to evolution, kept in what seed like a permanent sleep. His 'cage' was similar to the one Horus had been in, a square on the floor with energy barriers that only beca visible when approached.

Growing up had only cented his negative perception of the line. Hydreigon wasn't exactly what one could call a great flier, either. They had phenonal power, when their heads weren't fighting, and were very dangerous over short distances, but he'd wanted a globe-spanning species with unmatched aerial prowess and devastating power, and Shruikan had beco exactly that. Now, after his Garchomp, Shruikan wanted a Hydreigon to spar with as well. That had been his only request, if they were going to be adding so many faces. More than a few fans had also wondered why he'd gone for Garchomp over Hydreigon, and that was mostly because Garchomp could handle ga Evolution without constantly rampaging.

As far as he knew, only Nate was crazy enough to try ga evolving his Hydreigon, and subduing the subsequent rampage had taken his main team, all but one of whom had fainted. Thus, the National Dex now had a big red warning about ga Evolution on the Deino line's entries.

Alex read the moniker that Pegasus had given their charge, Monster Zero, and then noted the strange patterns of fate and fortune that swirled about the Deino. Finally, he said, "Director." Which got the attention of the man beside him. Those sharp, intelligent eyes tinged with sadness now, shifted back to his. "You wouldn't happen to know what happened to the first Dragon Emperor's Hydreigon, would you?"

Colress chuckled humorlessly and looked back at the Deino with a soft sigh. "Sadly yes, I do. With his master dead, he was about as furious as you'd expect, but the Humans of that ti were not so easily disobeyed…the subsequent Emperors turned him into a breeder, the only problem, was that every ti so self-important elitist snob tried training one, it eventually evolved and beca a calamity. Most of the calamities we have record of were caused by these hatchlings. This one was sent up here, by the Unovan Governnt, back when the last chained Hydreigon of his line finally, rcifully, passed away. He's been asleep ever since…but I have a feeling his rage has only been growing."

Alex felt Shruikan angrily reacting to the story, and Alex agreed with him. But this was not the old Dragon Empire. They would be better. They had to be. "This is Fate if I've ever seen it. There can be only one Trainer for him, and this ti, he'll be trained properly."

"It is folly."

Both Alex and Colress leapt, as they'd locked the door behind them. Even a Deino could be rather destructive. They turned to see the source of the irritated baritone, a pair of blazing, golden eyes floating in the air.

"I will tell you what I told William, when he began this tragedy. Lesser Hydreigon may be Tad, but those who bear this Darkness, are sothing else entirely. They cannot help their evil. It is their nature. Like a curse. This little one's ancestor bore it as well, as did his predecessors. Before even my ti in Unova, since their species first evolved, this lineage has lasted, and every single one has beco a natural disaster. They don't even need to reproduce, an Egg of their species line will simply appear one day with that telltale aura, and once again, the cycle of tragedy and death repeats. Leave him in stasis. It is the kinder fate for him, than the one that awaits."

Alex stared at the ground as Tao spoke. For context on his current thoughts, he had, naturally, at one point just set a clone to watching ani while the others trained. Mostly because he didn't like not knowing a story, but also because he was properly hooked by this point. His clone had made it to Boruto, the slightly less popular but still fairly decent 'Dad Era' of Naruto as a character. Alex looked at the Deino again, destruction incarnate apparently, going back eons. He was seeing so parallels and then asked himself what kind of leader he wanted to be. What kind of leader he was, so far.

"Wake him up. At the very least, I need to speak with him. He deserves to know what's going on."

Colress's eyes widened. "You're…going to tell him!? That…might just actually work…"

Tao's eyes flared again, and his voice rose. "Did you not hear ? The last Harmonias thought as you do. They could speak with their Deino, so surely it would not rampage. I warned them. Begged them not to raise one, but sure enough, their Deino grew up, and once a Hydreigon, lost all control. He then proceeded to spend centuries chained and imprisoned, living a life of torturously slow decay… They don't talk, they kill, they don't train, they plot their Trainer's death while pretending to put in an effort. Hear , Alexander Redwood I will Not put down another! Leave him be!"

Alex winced, as he understood, suddenly, why Tao was so adamant. His idiot predecessors had, probably hundreds of tis, co to him begging to put down a Hydreigon he had likely fruitlessly warned them not to train, as he was doing now, and with the humans unable to stop the rampage it caused, that duty fell to Tao. "I understand why this is such a sore point for you Tao, but he deserves a chance to live his life. At the very Mukking least, he deserves to know why he's being kept in stasis. And even if he does rampage…" Alex's eyes burned gold, as he channeled the Light into his clone, and t the dragon's eyes evenly, "I will stop him. With my own hands, I will end my failure…but I have to at least try. He deserves that much. Every living thing does."

Tao was silent for a long ti as his student finished with a lesson he'd been taught by Tao himself, his eyes no less fiery. Finally, he said, "Do as you will." And vanished.

"This…may actually not be so great of an idea, Alex…" Colress said in a hesitant tone, "The Original Dragon would know…"

"I made my decision, Director. Wake him up, please."

Colress sighed, but bowed to manners, and began the awakening process. Three balls bamfed up to the clone, as very quickly, the weight of the young dragon's malice filled the room. He woke up with an angry snarl that didn't inspire confidence in Alex. "Deeeeaaaaath…" was what it translated to.

"Not today." Alex answered with a smirk. The Deino's head turned toward him, and slowly, the malice started to fade. "Hello there." Alex began, "I am Alex Redwood. I train Pokémon like you, to beco the most powerful example of their species that they can be."

The large Deino wandered towards him, then tilted his head. "You…you speak like us…I understand your words…you…want to make strong?" He shuddered, as the visions, mories, or whatever they were, of a murderous rampage caused by his own heads filled his mind again. "I…don't want strength…I…I would be bad."

Alex's eyes widened. "Do…you know already? Do you know what happens when Zweilous with power like yours beco Hydreigon?"

At the word 'Hydreigon' the little dragon shuddered in fear. "I see…I see the dead…Humans…Pokémon… please… don't make strong again…please…"

In a calm baritone, Alex began explaining the young dragon's situation to him, but the more he spoke, the more he frowned. When he finally paused, the dragon said, "I knew I was evil. I can feel it, lurking inside. Put back to sleep, Human…I don't want to hurt anyone else ever again."

Alex exhaled a heavy sigh. "You don't want to live, either? To enjoy good food and good friends? You'd give up all that life is just to what, sleep forever?"

"If it ans I stop killing young ones, then yes!" The Deino roared at him. "I can't…take these…images…I can't do it again…please don't make ."

"I would never force you." Alex stated plainly, "But you deserve the chance to choose. To experience the good of this life you have."

"I have!" He roared again, "Over and over I have enjoyed my lives, felt good things, eaten good food, made good friends…and I always end up killing them! This is what I see, when I sleep, the faces of my dead friends…but eventually, like last ti, they'll stop, and I can just…rest."

"I'm not talking about who you've been. I'm talking about who you are Now. You can always choose differently than your previous incarnations did. You have not done anything wrong just by existing."

"You are wrong…" The Deino looked down sadly, "I can't choose differently…I was cursed…a long ti ago. I was evil…purely evil…and punished for it by a powerful Fairy. And I deserve it. I always choose death. I always give in to rage. I've made my choice. Just put back to sleep."

Alex nodded to himself as the Deino laid down and turned his back to the human. "Alright." Before Colress could even blink, the white and black clad Emperor, with an irritated gleam in his eye, hurled a Luxury Ball at the Deino's back, and he honked in surprise, as his essence was pulled into the pocket dinsion. Monts later, it dinged green.

"So much for deserving the chance to choose." Colress said, as Alex picked up his catch.

Alex ignored the man and set the Pokéball to stasis mode. This ant ti itself was now frozen within the pocket dinsion, though Deino could still move around and eat, he would gain no Experience. And he would do so in luxury. While initially furious as the dragon realized what he was in from his past lives, he had to admit, this ti his Trainer had a most satisfactory space for him. From above, he heard Alex's voice.

"You will remain in stasis, and you will be comfortable, while I do so proper investigating into lifting your curse. It may take so ti, so enjoy yourself. If you have to stay like this there's no reason you shouldn't be happy, at least."

Alex bamfed the ball to his main body then and looked at Colress. "A curse like this is bad news. Whatever put it on him, is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Humans who lived in my Empire. They're the ancestors of my current subjects. Whoever cursed him, they're certainly no friend to the Empire, or Humanity, and probably won't like that it has reford. So, I'm going to take him, find out what cursed him, try to reason with it, and maybe save an as yet innocent life. Do you have a problem with that, Director?"

Colress just smirked. "Not at all. But what if, after all that, let's say you free the Deino, or believe you do, and he decides he wants to be wild?"

Alex chuckled. "He won't. When I do train him, it'll be done properly. And once he Battles my other dragons…I have a feeling he'll want to stay. But if he doesn't, I can have him watched. Make sure he's not poached or falling into dark habits."

"Well at least you have that much sense." Colress sighed. "I may regret letting you catch him, but on your head be the consequences. Consider him your Pokémon now, the responsibility for him is yours." Alex thanked him and vanished in a cloud of pink sparkles as the clone poofed. Colress sighed heavily. "These Redwoods…are sothing else."

Elite Four Common Area - Victory Plateau, Unova Region

A hush fell over the lavishly decorated common room, as Alex Redwood appeared, and looked around. Sure enough, Will and Shauntal were sitting together at one of the tables. The two had fallen into, the way Alex had heard it, quite an epic romance, and these days Will had his mask off more often and his smile was genuine. Alex headed towards them, with purpose, and Will inclined his head as he arrived at the table. "Champion. It's been a while. I don't believe we have any worthy Challengers yet, once the school year ends, we tend to get a few."

"I'm actually here for your other half." Alex said with a smirk, before eting Shauntal's bespectacled gaze. "When you have ti, Shauntal, I'd like for you to research the first Dragon Emperor's Hydreigon, and any ntion of a curse upon him, or just a curse upon Hydreigon as a species in general. What Fairy Type caused it, why, and any information on how to break such a thing would be greatly appreciated."

Shauntal blinked slowly. "But why ask ?"

Alex chuckled. "Nobody in Unova is better at getting to the truth of our legends. And I believe you owe one." He said with a aningful look at Will. He couldn't claim credit for the relationship, but he had sent the solitary psychic her way, like an arrow from a bow.

"We shall both research this for you, Champion." Will interjected smoothly. "When we have ti."

"Of course." Alex responded with a smile more authentic than Will's, "I'm counting on you two. Sorry to interrupt. Have a good day." With that, he bamfed away again, and the two Elite Four mbers chuckled. Alex Redwood didn't ask much of his Elite Four in a Champion's capacity, sothing they very much enjoyed, and having Rosa, Hilbert, and Hilda around to either stand in for them, or him, was also very appreciated. When he did ask for sothing though, it was usually of vital importance, and the Original Dragon had made it clear to each of the Four, privately, that his requests were to be taken seriously.

So, while he hadn't given them a ti limit, there was still a sense of urgency. If it had been imdiately dire, he would've been sterner, and so Will and Shauntal continued to enjoy themselves, and it would be so ti until they started digging into the source of the Deino's curse.

Trial of the Vinewarden

Alex had Eternape and Coryn with him, inside their balls, as he stomped through an area near the Amazon River itself. Eternape, even from his ball, could manifest what seed to be a Night Shade capable of speech, or at least speaking to him, while his body rested in luxury. Apparently, to properly confirm he was worthy on more than just how impressive his team was, and his word, Eternape wanted to test him, and he had chosen his ghostly owl archer, Coryn, to accomplish this test. Apparently, the ghostly owl archer had impressed him. Every so often, the ghostly ape appeared to guide him. Eventually, Alex ca to a clearing free of vegetation, which was odd to find this close to the river, and this deep in the jungle. In the center of the clearing stood a strange, bright green tree.

It was strange because it was not ho to Pokémon. Even the mightiest predators avoided it, Alex saw, as a pair of Liepard skirted it in the jungle across the clearing from him. If they'd noticed him, they hadn't moved to attack, yet. The tree creaked ominously, and both Eternape and Coryn popped free from their balls. "Your tessssst…" Eternape gestured at the tree and hissed, as he sotis did when speaking.

With that utterance, the tree began to move, in its entirety, all at once. Coryn seed deeply unnerved, but Alex, Pokénerd that he was, knew imdiately what Eternape had led them to. He had no idea why a shiny Tangela this strong hadn't evolved yet, maybe it had simply never bothered learning a rock move in a jungle of violent grass and water types, but it didn't seem to need evolution to be massive. As it returned from absorbing nutrients from the fertile jungle to the form Alex was more familiar with, he found it barely resembled the Tangela he knew. There were brief white flashes of eye within the tangle, and the sa could be said of their usual red shoes, but in this instance, the vines dominated all. It was like a sentient pile of li green seaweed, and once it was in its usual shape, it attacked.

Alex psychically stopped the vines coming at him, while Coryn took to the air, making use of the clearing that the Tangela's Ingrain had created. The Tangela seed unbothered by their tactics, more than capable of fighting both at once. Vines limned with darkness ca for Alex, who flared his draconic aura shield, and simply ripped them off. Five more tis, the Tangela attacked him, before it realized the strange but powerful human was simply ignoring it and not countering. Eventually, it focused on the actual threat, for Coryn very much did counterattack, slamming into the Tangela with flying energy surrounding his body, easily out speeding its vines.

Tangela was fad for adapting however, and this one was no exception. When its vines failed to make contact, it leaned back and shot a burning seed into the air. Alex recognized this move too, as the Indigo League's Leader Erika had a Tangela with the sa ability as this one. Chlorophyll. "It's Sunny Day! Get high, and Solar Beam!" Alex ordered, pointing for Coryn. The Decidueye nodded dutifully and soared higher with several powerful flaps of his impressive wingspan. The seed exploded into a second sun, and the Tangela shuddered with what seed to be joy, to Alex's senses. Coryn's Solar Beam lanced forward from his beak, only to be t by the Tangela, who ford a vine cannon where his face should've normally been and answered the Solar Beam with his own. The explosion of colliding solar powered grass energy rippled through the clearing, and the jungle beyond, but none of the lurking inhabitants decided to interfere in this clash of grass types.

"Coryn! Purifying Spirit Shackle! But watch the vines, they'll be faster!" Irritated eyes peeked at Alex as he gave more orders, and once again, Knock Off tried to hit him, only to end in yet more psychically detached vines. Though, in this climate, it seed they didn't need a day to regrow, just a few seconds.

Sure enough, the Power Whips ca faster, but Coryn had learned how to fly from Alex's best fliers, and he gracefully barrel rolled into a rising arc that forced the vines to follow him through the Sunny Day. The Tangela hissed, as the manifested fire move was still fire, and hurt, and in that mont of recoil, Alex shouted, "Now!"

With practiced ease, Coryn launched five Spirit Shackle feather arrows at once, through the Sunny Day, which purified the ghost energy, and pinned what seed to be important vines to the Tangela, as the move knocked it prone. It let out a painful gurgle, and Alex winced. Thankfully, Coryn did not play with his foes. He was atop the tangled mass in a flash, pinning him with Acrobatics on his claws, his wings alight with Dual Wingbeat, if it tried snaring him. "I yield." It gurgled, still in pain.

"Alright Coryn, let the flas die out." Alex said, and the grassy owl extinguished them with a sweeping wing, as he then hopped away from the Tangela, and in front of his Trainer's clone. He spread his long legs then, wings open wide and pointed downward, head raised, and shrieked at the sentient vine mass, daring him to attack again.

"It is over." Eternape said, as he appeared from his ball with a flash of light. The Tangela gurgled in surprise. It was weird, hearing it speak, as it did seem to use so words, but its vines seed to punctuate them, or perhaps, among Tangela, they were capable of more simple thods of communicating, like a vine-based sign language. Vine language. "Well fought, Coryn." Eternape said with a pat on his wing, and with that, he stood from his defensive posture, but his eyes never left the Tangela. Their team had run into quite a few so far, and they were vicious in Selva Muerta. Constricting and ga Draining was a great way to grow strong here, and Alex assud that tree form from earlier had done that very thing on instinct, without needing Tangela to move. The fact that Coryn had so soundly defeated him very much impressed Alex.

"Indeed." He said, joining Eternape. "You have learned well from each of your teachers. Master your Moves, and you'll be more than ready for the Tournant." Coryn's eyes burned with fire as he simply nodded knowingly at his Trainer, and then they shifted back to the Tangela, who had now approached them.

"Eternape." He gurgled the word with respect. More followed, and Alex slowly deciphered their aning. "You travel with a Human now? I see why. I could not touch him. But he is not like the others."

Eternape nodded slowly. "He is stronger. Co with us. You will be stronger too. A Tangrowth. He speaks like us too."

The Tangela gurgled excitedly. "You understand , Human?" Alex nodded, smirking as that elicited a gleeful run in a circle from the Tangela, and a brief flash of happy eyes within the now slightly lessened mop of vines. "You make grow!? Stronger? Long have I sought this!" He burbled happily.

Alex nodded. "If you wish to evolve, my new friend, I will help you do so. But there's more to being on my team than just that…you see…" And once again, Alex elaborated on the team's long-term goals. The Tangela listened patiently, but Alex noted his tendrils sneaking over to Eternape, who brushed them off, and Coryn, who eyed them warily, until he recognized the Tangela was just saying hello. Coryn shook his vine with a wing, an action the Tangela vigorously returned, while he gurgled at Alex once he finished.

"The strongest…I am already the strongest around here. I used to lose a lot…but then I drained more, and it beca…easy." He said in an almost disappointed burble. "Too easy. Will our fights be like that one!?" His mood shifted again, rapidly, to excited wiggling and hopefulness.

Alex just chuckled. "Of course they will. In fact, once you train a bit, you'll find our Battles to be sothing completely different from what you've had to do to survive here. Which brings up a good point, actually. We don't kill our opponents in Human Battles."

The Tangela tilted in confusion, and Alex marveled as its vines seed to, briefly, form literal question marks. "Kill?"

Alex blinked. "End their life. Drain them until they don't move anymore. We don't do that, we leave them breathing, and healthy, just unconscious."

The Tangela shuddered at him. "But they'll attack when they wake up…better to…kill. Return them to the soil. Makes the forest strong."

Alex shook his head. "No, there will be no returning to the soil unless they're trying to do the sa to us. Understand? I can feed you berries, and lots of sunlight. You won't need to kill, and your opponents won't attack. Once they faint, they'll stop or be returned to their Pokéball. All you need to do to win is knock them unconscious one ti. Understand?"

The Tangela was quiet for a mont, and his vines shifted as he processed this strange human idea of not killing one's enemies. "I…understand. I will not…kill until you say so." Alex got the feeling he did not, in fact, understand, but he was just leaving it to the human to tell him when to kill and when not to. Alex hoped that ant he wouldn't try killing each ti he won, but he believed the shiny green vine creature understood that he would be deeply distressed if Tangela killed soone. That would have to be good enough.

"Welco to the team, Chloros."

The Iron Reaper

Arthur walked calmly into the Jungle of Death, as the rest of the team continued to train. Being what he was, he had, like his Trainer, made use of Double Team, but with psychic energy. Multi Clones, or whatever Alex was calling the move. They were useful, more durable, and didn't seem to count as a physical or special move. Arthur couldn't make many yet, but those he had were all occupied with training, and even he found splitting his focus to be a lot on his senses. He didn't understand yet how Alex managed it all, but his brother just kept growing more adept with his clones.

Arthur was alone, though. Alex was the least worried for him and his safety, as he had already braved worse than Selva Muerta, and lived. The psychic knight was not cocky, but confident that he could handle anything the jungle could throw at him, so long as he didn't go looking for trouble. Naturally, trouble was exactly what he was looking for. Romulus had faced a powerful Scizor not too long ago and had been hurt pretty bad. Nothing a Full Restore didn't fix, but still, there were so things that Arthur could not abide. The Lycanroc had co back battered from the battle. Whatever he'd faced was clearly higher level, and had a type advantage that it had used to almost lethal effect. Romulus was too good of a boy to not be avenged, so Arthur went on a walkabout through the area Romulus had been honing his Accelerock in.

Sure enough, after about twenty minutes, Arthur heard the telltale flap of a Scizor's wings. Scyther were, naturally, quite common in Selva Muerta, but only a few that had been to the southern curve of the continent had ever managed to find a tal Coat and beco a Scizor. This one was naturally large, and very far north of their usual range. Arthur stopped, eyes narrowed, as the Scizor slid in front of him with its impressive speed. "You! Have you fought a Lycanroc recently?"

The Scizor's eyes narrowed. "I knew it was a Human slave…it was weak. Lucky, it escaped…you are just as weak. Seeking out…ans death." The Scizor's claws clamped shut, and he shot forward, gliding just above the ground, as Arthur's eyes widened. Unlike most Scizor, this one was actually using its wings, which seed rather well defined, no doubt from constant use. In a climate like this, they probably had to beat constantly to prevent overheating. The result was that they made up for Scizor's slow steel typed speed. The Bullet Punch t the base Sacred Sword with ease, and the brute struck with the second claw, which was also easily blocked.

"You're not even worth ga Evolving for." Arthur stated factually. "You have claws. They're more than clubs. Use them." He disentangled their arms then, and roundhouse kicked the steel bug to the face. The move was so fluid and unexpected, the Scizor's eyes went wide as the sturdy foot of the Gallade sent him flying, a sensation he had not experienced since before evolving.

With a tallic snarl, the Scizor flared his wings to stop his montum, and did as suggested. His claws opened, revealing a sharper, heightened tal Claw, which had a higher attack power than normal thanks to this Scizor being a technician. The claws ca for Arthur, but he simply held out one arm defensively and coated it with Excalibur this ti. The Scizor's eyes widened again as he felt the power of the Light, while Arthur used his other arm to stifle a yawn. "I can't believe Romulus had trouble with you. You must have ambushed him."

The Scizor refocused on the Gallade, and the anger returned. "The patient hunter gets the prey…ambushes bring victory."

"Coward!" Arthur shouted physically and psychically, which disoriented the steel bug type. Excalibur flared with the Light's heat, and the tal Claws lost their grip, having not so much as scratched Arthur's now burning, golden arm. Once more he spun fluidly through the air, this ti striking with his burning arm in the Pokémon's chest. A shockwave from the force of the hit visibly bood through the air, as Arthur held nothing back, and sent his opponent rocketing through three sizable tree trunks.

Arthur stepped past them, tapping their ruined trunks with an arm glowing with Leaf Blade as he did so. The grass energy infused each trunk, and the damage was repaired slowly. Soon the holes Scizor had made were gone entirely, though new bark would have to grow, the trees would survive. The bashed bug stared at Arthur's mastery in awe. "Not…weak…" He managed to say through the imnse pain. He wanted to weep from the pain, but he held it in, refusing to show weakness to this warrior.

"This is why you face opponents head on. That's how you grow stronger. Even when you lose, you can learn sothing. Cowardly tactics have no place in a real Battle."

"You…Human slaves and your…Battling. Humans are…a source for tal…nothing more."

"Weak, and a fool." Arthur retorted calmly. "Your species can attain great power, but you usually need a Human to bring it out safely. By spurning them, you guarantee your weakness. I am only this strong, because my Human is a great Trainer. He studied hard to learn how to make his partners the best they can be, and you see the result."

Arthur quietly hoped he wouldn't take the bait, but he also knew Alex would be irritated if he just let a Scizor that needed a little polishing to be World Tournant material just lie here, uninvited. "I…want that…strength…"

Arthur sighed and then shared Life Dew with the steel warrior. He perked up quickly but made no move to attack. Arthur could tell the tallic bug was in awe of him. "Why?"

The Scizor looked down, and then back at Arthur. "All I have brought here…is death. It has…dulled . The fight to survive has…beco dull. I cut through the grass ones. I beat down the dark ones. Few challenge . All the way, from south to north, nothing but weakness…until you." He acknowledged. "I…wish to be the strongest."

Arthur's brow furrowed. "What will you do with such power?"

The Scizor put a claw to his chest and bowed deeply. "Whatever you wish. You have the Alpha's power. You are worthy enough to follow."

Arthur slowly tapped each of the battered Scizor's shoulders with Sacred Sword. "Raise your head…Reaper."

The Scizor, nad for his deeds, did so, and blinked, as he found a pair of crossed Sacred Swords at his neck. He looked at Arthur, who spoke calmly. "Hear . If you ever harm Romulus, or any of our brothers like that again, I will finish this attack, and your neck will not be able to take it. No matter how strong you beco. Do you understand?"

The Scizor nodded ever so slightly, and Arthur lowered his blades. "Then co, let us introduce you to your brothers."