Like No One Ever Was

It turned out that crafting a mask was a harder job than I had first envisioned. Kieran and Carmine’s grandfather was a mask maker, and one I knew to be a descendant of the crafter who had made Ogerpon’s masks in the first place, so I thought it would be good to start with him. And it is, in a way…

“Oww,” I hissed out. I nicked my thumb lightly, and the knife slipped a little on the wood I was carving. It’s not deep at least, I should be able to bandage this up and keep on working. There were similar grumblings of discontent from Carmine and Kieran, in the shed with me as we worked on their grandfather’s orders.

The only person who was having fun with it was Cyan, whose artistic skills (and possibly greater fine motor skills from being a few years older than the rest of us) showed themselves once again as she deftly carved the hard blocks of wood. Happily humming along to a tune Popplio was singing for us, she turned them into works of art.

Admittedly, most of this is just copying the designs we were given, but still. She’s finishing faster than us and leaving better masks than the rest of us. The Kitakami siblings were going at about the same rate as me, but I thought they might have absorbed a few of their grandfather’s skills via osmosis because their finished pieces were much less rough than mine. I’m guessing that he’ll have to go over mine at least quickly to fix up any imperfections before selling them, but I’m worried that any attempt to correct things on my part would just end up ruining the whole thing.

My sister glanced over at the mask I was struggling with and (badly) held back a snicker. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” I grumbled as I tried to make the nose a little sharper.

“I’m sorry,” she said, sounding very unapologetic. “It’s just, you’re so good at everything, seeing you fai- not do as well here is kinda funny.” Sighing, I didn’t respond to her words.

Cyan has been pretty good about me getting more and more advanced homework and tutors and all the whispers at parties. I hear them occasionally, her name only getting mentioned in comparison to me, and always unfavorably. I let out a deep sigh at the unfairness of all of this. She’s got plenty of strengths, and I was, well, an adult.

I felt Kieran’s eyes burning a hole into my back and wondered what the boy thought of me. We had our big battle coming up, but more than that, I wondered how he felt about the subtle nudges I had been trying to give him. No guarantee any of this works, but he seemed pretty upset about the Player Character getting Ogerpon in the DLC, hopefully, this might curb some of his possessiveness and anger before then. Assuming it wasn’t due to Pecharunt or whatever that storyline was. I think it was mentioned that they were the true mastermind behind the Loyal Trio?

The door to the shed opened up, revealing my friend’s grandfather. He had spiky gray hair, not looking much different than he did in the games. In his hands, he held a mask, one carved with intricate curved lines, denoting a number of feathers. The mask stretched out on either side, giving the impression of wings, and the beak jutted out. An upward curve to it gave the impression of joy in the animalistic mask. There were empty eye-holes, but also a socket atop the brow, where something might be inlaid.

““Grandpa!”” The Kitakami kids cheered, laying down their tools and half-finished projects to hug him. “Look at what we’ve done,” Carmine demanded, dragging him forward.

“Ah yes, I came by to check on how you were doing.” He smiled kindly at his grandchildren’s works, made true appreciative sounds of Cyan’s, then got to mine and…

“Well, I think I might be able to finish up this mask faster than I thought,” He said, his smile only slightly strained.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, realizing he was at least in part taking over because of me.

“It’s not matter, I’d need to paint it soon anyway. However, we need something more if you want this mask to truly stand on the same level as the ones the Loyal Trio too- rescued.” I bit back a frown, and my tongue, resisting the urge to call him out on this. You say that the people aren’t ready to hear the truth, but of course, they won’t be if you never tell anyone! The fake story gets ground in for generations which is why it’s so hard to overturn. Then again, maybe not? Kieran does tell the truth fairly easily, but it also happens offscreen, hard to tell if it was a herculean effort on his part or just very easy to change their minds.

The old man continued. “I need a small piece of crystal, from the Crystal Lake atop the mountain, to make this mask truly shine. I…” his eyes slid over to our pile of masks. “... Still have some work to do, so if you could just get me that I’ll finish up here.”

We headed out, towards the mountain, with only light grumbling on my part. Before we reached the edge of the town, however, my sister said to me: “So, that was fun and all, but I don’t feel like getting all sweaty hiking up the mountain again.”

Fair enough, this is going to be an even tougher climb than last time. “Are you going to join Mom and Dad sightseeing?” I asked. Cyan thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.

“No, we’ll get plenty of that done in the afternoon when we meet up for the aerial tour over Kitakami. I’m looking to catch another Pokemon.” She was gazing out at the water as she said that.

“Another Water Type?” I inquired, and she pulled her sparkling gaze away and huffed a little.

“Maybe. Seeing Pop and the others splash around was fun… We’ll see. I was planning on taking a page out of your book and just seeing what happens - though hopefully, I’ll find someone a little less aggressive than your new friend.”

“She’s not that bad, she’s just… a tsundere.”

My sister quirked an eyebrow, replying "I meant your latest Pokemon, not Carmine."

Gligar’s been snappier these past few days (at times literally, though so far cautious to not put her teeth too close to my hands). Likely agitated by the new circumstances. She’s chaffing from the restrictions of being unable to fly wherever or battle whenever she pleases. Admittedly, it’s quite the adjustment.

I couldn’t deny my sister’s point, that we had a long way to go in terms of our partnership. A fact reinforced by Gligar planting her feet and refusing to move when Kieran, Carmine, and I began to leave to climb the hills/mountain.

“Gar, ligar.”

Kieran tensed up a bit at my Pokemon’s anger, but I pushed that aside for a minute to focus on the Flying Scorpion Pokemon. “Look, I get it, it’s been frustrating. I need you to trust me on this-” She snapped her teeth loudly.

“Do you have everything under control?” Carmine demanded, stepping forward and placing herself between her brother and Gligar. Cute, but entirely unnecessary as my Pokemon’s frustration is with me.

“This is just a bumpy part of the path on our journey,” I rebutted.

Kieran looked down at the dirt road. “Seems pretty smooth to me.”

Face-palming, I responded. “Not literally, I meant metaphorically. No trainer gets along perfectly all the time with their Pokemon. There are bumps in every relationship, and sometimes… you have to accept when something won’t work out.” Glancing around Carmine I locked eyes with Kieran, for just half a second. Ogerpon might not choose you, and that’s ok.

Then I turned back to Gligar who had stiffened up. “But I don’t think this is anything like that.” She relaxed, her shoulders slumping a tad. “You just want to say that you’re upset with how things are, and I get that. Waiting patiently to heal is good, and I think you’ve waited long enough for some light battling.”

With a vicious smile, she whipped around, gazing out all over the rolling hills for a Pokemon to test her might against. “Whoa whoa, wait a minute. First things first, light battling, so let’s just have two or three today, and I might veto your battle choice.” Gligar nodded, impatiently. “And two-” I paused for a split-second, before pushing my hesitation aside. “I’ve got a new Move for you to learn.”

My momentary hesitation came from whether I should use ‘that’ TM. I had never gotten around to using it on Dun, too busy training him up in other Moves trying to give him more coverage.

Clay gave it to me, my first Gym victory reward. Sure, I have the badge as well, but the Technical Machine is special in its own way too. And I’m still not sure how this partnership with Gligar will work out. Will she leave me high and dry once she’s mastered her Hidden Ability? Or after I help her evolve into Gliscor? Or none of those things, and we just get into some argument beforehand and she ditches me?

As many worries as I had, as realistic or outlandish as they were, there was one defining fact I couldn’t run from. The reason why I chose to do this is: No bond between a Pokemon and Trainer can work without trust. So I’ve gotta trust that this is the right thing. That I’ll help her, and trust that she’ll help me.

Pulling a Technical Machine out of my bag, I presented it to her. “This is the Move Bulldoze. It’ll shake the earth and cause your foe’s footing to slip.” Her triangular eyes grew wide at that, and she made grabby motions with her claw hands.

Chuckling, I added “No, you go back in your Pokeball and I place the disc on it. You should learn the Move in a matter of seconds. It’s actually quite interesting; your line doesn’t tend to learn damaging Ground Moves naturally, so this should give you a nice advantage in using your Typing offensive- and you’re back in the ball.” Amidst my ramblings, she had gone up and pressed the button to recall herself.

“So eager,” I muttered. Kieran and Carmine caught my words, looking incredulously at me as I put the disc on the Pokeball and it started spinning. “What? I- I know how to temper myself,” I spluttered at their unspoken accusations.

The disc finished spinning, popping off and saving me the trouble of defending myself further. Releasing Gligar, she stumbled forward as she hit the ground, somewhat dazed. “Yeah, TMs can be a bit much to handle at first. Don’t worry though, you’ll get used to it soon enough.”

Her long tail slapped against the ground excitedly, causing the ground to shake. “That’s it! Hmm, the Move usually uses stomping against the ground, but your legs aren’t as strong as your tail. Let’s try both out.”

She practiced the Move as we traveled, getting a good grasp of it quite quickly. Having the STAB Typing helps a ton with mastering TM Moves, I’m finding. She got enough of a handle on it to direct the ground shaking away from us as we traveled, but that pushed it into the path of other Pokemon, soon bringing up a disgruntled challenger.

Flanked by several Sewaddles, a Swadloon shuffled up. Its yellow body was covered in leafy appendages, and it had a slight red mark on its head like it had recently taken a bump there. The leader of the pack gave some angry cries at Gligar, tossing a seeds and sticks at my Pokemon who artfully dodged around them.

My Gligar looked unrepentant, of course, but also eager. Sure, this seems like a fine battle for her to start out with. I don’t try to coddle my Pokemon, but giving them a confidence booster in their first battle is fine. “Go for it. We’ll have a battle between you and Swadloon, sound good?” The question was directed at the pack of upset Pokemon, who reluctantly nodded at seeing the Pokeballs on our belts.

Swadloon shuffled forward and unfolded their leafy arms, flapping them and whipping up a field of razor-sharp grass through the air.

“Dodge around and go for Acrobatics!” My command was only partially followed by Gligar, as she maneuvered around the Razor Leaf attack, but then dropped to the ground, slamming it with her tail. The ground shook a little but the tremors carried across the battlefield almost straight to the Swadloon, kicking up the ground and knocking into her from below… to very little effect.

Gligar looked shocked and her foe used that opportunity to their advantage, shooting out a string of silk from her mouth that wrapped around Gligar’s body. Dammit! At least she’s not fully tied up around the wings yet.

“Poison Tail the string, cut yourself loose!” With her tail dripping with potent poison, it was able to slice through the string restraining her without getting her tail caught too in the sticky trap. I saw Swadloon puffing up their cheeks, getting ready for another attack. “Quick attack, drift right!”

Thankfully, Gligar continued to follow my commands, shooting ahead and curving to the right. She just narrowly avoided the web that Swadloon spat out, slamming her body into the Grass Types. Swadloon was knocked on her back by the force of the blow, struggling to get up from both the awkward shape of her body, but also the churned-up ground from before.

“Finish this, Acrobatics!” Swooping around, Gligar battered the Swadloon, knocking them across the hill until she stood triumphant over the downed Grass Type. Her fangs glistened in the light and I saw the Sewaddles trembling off to the side.

“Alright, that’s enough!” I called sharply, clapping my hands. Jogging over I patted Gligar’s head.

“Good job, you fought well.” Then to the defeated Swadloon, I offered them some berries from my bag.

This got an upset glare from my Pokemon as the Swadloon swallowed the offered berry and scurried out of the way. “What’s wrong? I can offer you berries too, ya know. Are you hungry or tired?”

She averted her face, shaking her head, still pouting. “Don’t get mad if you don’t actually want anything!” Hearing her panting slightly, I realized she was a little tired, even from that match. She’s still not 100% even after resting these past few days.

Sighing, I let go of the annoyance at her behavior. “It helps, or at the very least doesn’t hurt to give offerings to training partners. If you ever need anything, I’m always there to help.” She nodded tersely, kicking some sand around. Feels like the berry thing isn’t what’s bugging her.

“Is this about your Move not working well?” I ventured and she turned, nodding furiously. “Don’t worry about that. It wasn’t that the Move or you were weak, some Pokemon are just better at resisting attacks than others. Basically, that Move was only a quarter as effective on Swadloon as it would be against a Pokemon that wasn’t resitant to it. That’s why I want you to listen to my commands in a battle.”

“Wowzers, you know a bunch about battling, dontcha?” Kieran commented, looking both in awe and a tad worried about me.

“I’ve practiced a lot, so I’d like to think I know a bit. Type match-ups aren’t everything, but they are one of the basics that you should learn when starting as a trainer.”

“Of course, I know everything about Type match-ups,” Carmine boasted.

Giving the tall girl a sinister smile, I said “Well why don’t you find a good Pokemon for Gligar to have her next match against? One that will let them use Bulldoze well.” I offered, glancing over at my Pokemon to see if she was fine with it, which she was.

“O-oh. I mean of course I will, follow me!” With Carmine’s longer legs, she strode up, looking all around the hills.

She didn’t find a ‘suitable challenge’ until we had passed by Kitakami Hall and were beginning to reach the rocky part of the mountain. “Aha! There!” She declared, pointing to a yellow Pokemon that looked very similar to Pikachu, but with a patch of light brown and light black fur on each side of its head and down its body, leading to small pouches.

“Morpeko? Interesting choice.” Gligar looked in askance about my comment, but I shook my head. “I’ll explain later, should be a good battle.” Without waiting for anything else, Gligar took off, diving down towards the unsuspecting electric mouse.

“Gah! We should have introduced ourselves first- ah screw it, Bulldoze!” I cried as Gligar neared the Morpeko. I can explain and give them a Sitrus Berry after the battle.

Gligar’s tail smacked the ground, sending it shifting and shaking all about. It wasn’t as strong as Earthquake, but it churned up the dirt way more. It hit about as wide, however, which drew the ire of some Growlithe that had been playing nearby, the pair of canine Pokemon turning and spitting Embers at Gligar, forcing her away from the caught off-guard Morpeko.

“Bulldoze again!” Gligar tried, shaking up the ground once more, but this time was attacked by one of the Growlithes and Morpeko. The injured electric type grew dark, its fur going purple and black as it slammed into Gligar while covered in electricity, which did nothing to my Ground Type. Growlithe’s Bite, however, did more, latching onto Gligar’s leg and dragging her down.

She can’t fly properly like that, and getting stuck on the ground will leave her too open.

“Knock Off! Brush that Growlithe aside and take evasive maneuvers.” She followed the first part of my command, imbuing a claw with pitch-black energy as she brushed Growlithe off harshly, the Dark Type attack forcing him to release his jaws.

Then, however, Gligar turned to stare at me, only a few feet above the ground. Why isn’t she- she doesn’t understand?! “I meant DODGE! Fly you fool!” At that, she narrowly twirled around another set of Embers the other Growlithe sent her way.

Three Pokemon attacking her at once was a bit much, and I was tempted to release Dun. Seeing the joy on her face as she zipped around, taunting the wild Pokemon, I held back on that instinct. It was tough, and she was exhausted by the end, lying down on the ground and panting heavily after her final Bulldoze, but the Growlithes and Morpeko had all been defeated.

Using an Ether and Potion on her, I got her back to her feet and offered some lesser healing for the wild Pokemon, who was a bit confused before scampering off. “That was a good learning experience. Bulldoze had Type advantage against all of them and hit in a wide area, which made it possible to beat the three of them at once.”

“Ar, Gligar, gar.” She boasted. Not entirely sure what she’s boasting about, however. Is it that she could have beaten all of them without the Type advantage or just saying they were no match for her? The nuance is tricky to decipher so far.

To Carmine, I said “I was thinking of going for a Salandit, but Morpeko was a great choice too. Shows off the Immunity Gligar has against Electric Moves as well as the weakness they have to Bulldoze.”

“That’s what I was thinking, thanks,” Carmine said, unexpectedly bashful for a second, brushing a lock of hair past her head. “Salandits can be a bit of a problem, sometimes if they get disturbed you come across a Salazzle.”

“Good point.” I released Dun, confident he could handle any evolved Pokemon or anything big groups that came our way. “You did great today, Gligar. Rest up for now and just watch what Dun does. Learning from your teammates will help a bunch too. It’s how I got Dun and Miles to learn Hex; Dun learned it from a TM, and then Miles copied it from seeing him use the Move.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kieran furiously scribbling notes on what I’d just said.

Aww, that’s cute. I don’t think I’m the best trainer or anything, not by a long shot, but I guess most kids our age don’t get taught stuff like this yet.

My prediction about Dun being able to clear the way for us was well-founded. As the trail became more barren, with more dangerous Pokemon like Houndours, Ekans, Timburrs, and even a Houndoom running free and keenly aware of humans trespassing in their territory, we relied on him to clear the path. After he beat the Houndoom with ease, most Pokemon avoided us entirely, ‘word’ spreading of Dun’s strength.

Without any danger on that front, the biggest trial we faced on our path to the Crystal Pool was fatigue and overheating. We had plenty of water packed, but I was still feeling tired as we made it to the foot of the stairs that led up and up and up… to the peak of the mountain, where the Pool lay.

“Oh wow. I thought the stairs in Mesagoza were bad!”

“Huh?” Kieran inquired. The boy was drenched in sweat, much like his sister and myself, but his eyes were still fixated upwards on the prize. He really wants to give Ogerpon this gift. I do too. It’s always nice to get a present and she more than deserves to know someone(s) cares about her.

“Oh, I was just saying how we have a bunch of stairs up to the biggest school in Paldea, but they aren’t nearly as tall as this bunch.” Nor as uneven as these ones. They aren’t bad, pretty solid stairs, but these were cut with more primitive tools and methods, without the expectation of a great deal of foot traffic.

“I don’t think if you included all the stairs up from the base of Mesagoza itself up to the entrance to school it would be this long.” Feeling playful, I added “Race you to the top! Last one up is a rotten egg!”

I was not the first one to make it to the peak, despite my instigation, though that was only because Gligar possessed wings, and I did not. Kieran pushed himself hard but still ended up behind me, and then even Carmine, with her longer legs making up for her lack of energy and drive. The sun beat down hard on us, but it still felt like such a sweet victory as we offered Kieran a hand up the final steps and together reached the peak of Kitakami.

Our reward (beyond the crystal we hoped to obtain) was a gorgeous sight. The true peak, a thin rim around the top, sloped down to this almost valley-like place, dominated first and foremost by the vast, glittering water in the center. The water and blue-green color to it, with a massive chunk of Tera Crystal glittering and sparkling within its depths. The water trailed out, cutting a path through the rocky path and out an opening, down the side of the mountain where it made the waterfalls that cascaded down the face of the mountain.

The rest of the scenery was a bit more barren. Rocky, with steam vents, and hot pockets where Slugmas and Koffings gathered around. There was a Glimmora with a glittering Rock Tera ‘Hat’ sparkling above their head, the strongest Pokemon in the area by far. They didn’t seem concerned with us, or much of anything actually. A few Arrokewdas snapped from the water, but otherwise, we were left alone to view this untamed paradise in peace. The only signs of human development were a small wooden bridge that covered the water that ran out of the pool and a sign beside it, claiming this to be one of the natural wonders of Kitakakmi.

We took a minute to catch our breaths and then I said “We should probably go over to the water if we’re going to get the crystal.” Walking over to the water’s edge, we peered within its depths. It was hard to make out, but the crystal was dozens of meters down and must have weighed hundreds of tonnes. Way more than the small piece we need. But how-

“How are we going to get the piece of crystal?” Carmine demanded, looking unsure at the water. Good question.

The clear waters atop the massive crystal suddenly became choppy, some great force moving up from the depths. Beside me, Carmine clutched her Pokeball tightly, ready for whatever threat was coming our way. After a moment, out from the water burst out… a Feebas.

“Feeeeee!” It cried angrily as it jumped out of the water, and flipped through the air for a moment before landing back down with a heavy splash. Then it rose halfway out of the water to balefully glare at us.

Carmine started laughing out loud, much to the Pokemon’s chagrin. “Can’t believe we were worried about that. Uh, not that I was worried, can’t believe you and Kiki were worried.”

To avoid upsetting the Pokemon, I stepped forward a bit and apologized. “Sorry about that, we’re just looking for the second most beautiful thing in this pool.” The Feebas squinted at me, anger slowly fading to confusion.

“We want to get some small pieces of crystal from within the pool.”

“Bas?”

“If those are the second most beautiful thing, what's the most beautiful thing here?” I repeated my interpretation of their question for my companions’ benefit. “Why, you of course.”

I swore the Feebas blushed for a moment, slapping the water with a fin bashfully. Suspicion soon grew, however, and they asked: “Feeb?”

“We aren’t looking to take you because we want to use the crystals on a mask we’re helping make. We can’t attach you to the end of a mask.”

“Ee, bas. Ba feeba.” They argued back, and I was sure if I was an anime character a large sweat drop would be rolling down the side of my face.

“Uhh no, we really can’t. You wouldn’t be able to breathe while attached to the mask.” Not the brightest bulb, I see.

Feebas’ eyes darted back nervously before shakily responding. “Fe-feebas, fee.”

“Of course, just a joke.” Carmine and Kieran looked at me disbelievingly. Before the older (angrier and louder), of the two could interject, I asked for assistance. “Hey, Feebas. Would you mind grabbing some crystals from down there for us? Not too large, just if there’s anything loose about this size,” I held up my small hand in a fist.

They gave a small gurgle of agreement and dived back down into the water. As they disappeared beneath the waves, I turned to look at my friends who were just staring, shocked at me. “What?”

“How did you understand that Pokemon so well? Can you talk to them?!” Kieran asked excitedly.

“Whoa whoa, it’s nothing that special. Anyone can talk to Pokemon, and most of them can understand us quite well. It’s our understanding that’s important… and honestly, I only got about 60% of what Feebas was getting at in that short exchange.” At Carmine’s quizzical look, I elaborated.

“A lot of communication, even for humans, is in body language. We learn how to understand humans pretty well growing up with them. But I bet if someone were raised entirely by Pokemon, there’s a chance they’d be able to understand them much better.” N proved that pretty well. “Feebas was quite expressive there, which helped me get a general vibe of what they were saying.”

Carmine had quite the contemplative look on her face, as she glanced around at the Pokemon wandering around the basin. Her brother just nodded and glanced back every few seconds to the pool, eager for the final piece in the mask he’d give to Ogerpon. I, meanwhile, was interested in a certain cave I knew to be right around these parts…

“Where are you going?” Carmine asked me sharply. Waving her off I replied, “Just looking around. You guys keep an eye out for Feebas.” With that, I began walking around the long rim of the ground to a small hill in the basin on the opposite side of us.

The most aggressive Pokemon were the ones in the water and it seemed most of the flying or land-bound ones had already learned not to try and mess with us (though I still had to steer clear of a Koffing that was obliviously floating along and spewing toxic gas).

Making my way around to the back of the hill, and there I found the opening that led to a long shaft going straight down. A few small outcroppings jutted out, and I thought I could see further openings on the sides, but it was hard to tell with how dark it was.

Releasing Gligar I said “Hey, this is a cave I found, thought we might check it out. Would you mind flying down and seeing if there are any other paths on those ledges?” She weighed the request for a moment, likely balancing the non-battle nature of it against the general approval of stretching her wings, and eventually agreed. Diving down the hole, she swooped around disappearing out of sight.

“Anything there?” I called down, getting no response for a minute. Just before I was thinking of calling again or going down, I felt a small tremor through the earth. Is that- damn it, she’s using Bulldoze! The Move I had just taught her wasn’t a risk of collapsing a solid structure like Earthquake might, but it was still a bad sign if a battle was going on.

Jumping down, I drew on my Aura as I pulled out Miles. Gliding down, I held Miles up with the flashlight one, looking around for my wayward Pokemon. It wasn’t hard to spot her and the signs of battle taking place in a small side cave sticking out from the wall. Drifting over I landed down and dropped my Aura, feeling the rush of excitement it brought fade away, and became acutely aware of the drain it had on my energy. I was hardly fatigued, but it was noticeable how quickly using it could tire me out.

All of those were concerns for another time as I saw my Pokemon surrounded by a bunch of floating, crystal-covered rocks. Each of the rocks had a small fluffy white strip around the tops of their bodies, just below their blue eyes, their heads topped with long ears, giving them a very rabbit-like appearance, despite being made of stone and having no limbs.

“Stop!” I shouted out, both at the wild Pokemon and at Gligar. My Pokemon hissed, on the brink of attacking them anew, but surprisingly the wild ones did halt, just looking curiously at us. A den of Carbinks? I didn’t read or remember anything about this, but I suppose it makes sense given the large Tera Crystal stuck in the pool nearby.

“Gligar, calm down. They’re not attacking us.” She looked on edge but didn’t make any more aggressive moves towards them, which I considered a win. To the group of Carbinks, I apologized.

“Sorry for intruding, we were just looking to explore. I didn’t realize that any Carbinks lived in this region. Do you have a Diancie or leader?” I think I remember most groups of Carbinks are led by a Diancie as their ‘queen’. Or maybe just monarch? All of them are genderless, after all.

A cascade of chiming crystal sounds washed over me as the group made a bunch of noise. “Uh, sorry, I don’t understand.” One of them, in the back of the two dozen or so Carbinks floating around, had a small notch in their left ear. That one tipped their head forward, as if in a nod.

“You… don’t understand either?” More chiming sounds, but that sounded slightly more melodious and less dissonant. I think that means they’re agreeing with what I said, but it’s difficult to tell with how different their bodies are than other Pokemon.

“Hmm, ok. Gligar, please use Sand Attack- not on them!” I quickly added, seeing the malicious gleam in her eyes. “Just kick up some sand over there,” pointing to a clear space in the circular cave. “I want to draw them a picture.” She looked disappointed, but agreed, slapping the ground with her tail and kicking up a thin layer of sand from the rocky ground.

Using the sand, I began drawing an image of Diancie in the sand with my hands. The Carbinks began crowding around me, which made me feel a bit nervous, but none of them were aggressive, just overly curious. Speaking of curious people, I think I hear my friends calling out my name above. I guess it looks like I kinda ditched them, whoops.

“Miles, can you tell Carmine and Kieran where I am and that I’m fine?”

“Bzzt, not a problem,” They replied, a blink-and-you-miss-it glance they gave to Gligar before floating out. Yeah, she would be faster and a good choice to let them know I’m fine, but she can’t communicate as well with humans, and she’s still too aggressive. I’ve got to keep a close eye on her. I didn’t want to instantly think ill of my own Pokemon, it’s technically possible that one of the Carbinks had started the fight, but given how everyone was behaving now, I felt it was likely that Gligar had jumped the gun, at least.

My drawing wasn’t great, without colors and limited details based on what I could recall of the mythical Pokemon. When I finished, however, my crude sketch still elicited several interested chiming sounds from the group.

“That’s a Diancie. Sometimes, a Carbink will become one of those.” The notch-eared one chimed insistently at that. “How does it happen? Well, I don’t know. It has something to do with a mutation and being able to turn the empty air into diamonds, but beyond that, I have no idea how it works.” As far as I’m aware, no one knows exactly why that mutation occurs. I haven’t even done enough research to know why it’s called a ‘mutation’ and not just an unknown evolution, but there’s probably some scientific reason for that distinction.

The Carbink I was talking to pointed with their ears at the picture I had drawn again. “Hmm?

Sorry, I don’t understand. Yes, that’s Diancie. They look a lot like you guys but their gems are more pink in color than the light blue you h-” more crystal chiming sounds. “Oh, do you mean they have arms and a mouth?”

They shifted their head up a bit to show a small dull set of teeth, usually hidden beneath the white fur. “Ok, it’s the arms then.” That seemed to get that Carbink super excited, wobbling back and forth as they shifted, and the others seemed interesting too. “Have you guys never heard of a Diancie before? Did your colony not have one before you came here?”

There was another round of chatter that I couldn’t begin to understand, beyond that idea that at some point it switched to talking amongst themselves. During that time, Miles returned, telling me how they had informed them and the kids were ‘mostly calm’ now.

Before I could inquire further, the Carbinks began moving together, floating in a synchronized fashion as they formed a floating triangular wall in front of us. The notch-eared one raised a rock up to the ceiling before it landed ‘down’ on the top of the wall (constrained mostly by the height of the cave. The wall shifted the peak Carbink making room for the rock that now hovered in their spot. Then they and several other Carbinks moved to touch the rock before spreading out and looking around the cave curiously.

It took me a minute to realize what they were doing, but eventually, I put the pieces together.

“You… you were all on the crystal when it… landed here?” There was a very agreeable sound from the group, which I took as my blind guess being correct. “How long ago was that?” My question was met by a bunch of curious stares.

Depending on how little they go out to explore, they might not have a proper idea of days or years. No matter what though, it must have been a long time ago. There are legends of Ogerpon hundreds of years ago, and tales of Bloodmoon Ursaluna arriving at least three centuries ago, but I’ve never heard anything about this. As far as all my research into Kitakami had gone, the crystals and Terastal phenomenon had simply always been a part of the land.

“Heeeeeey! Are you okay?” Kieran’s voice echoed down.

Moving to the edge of the alcove I found myself in, I shouted back “I’m fine, yeah. It looks like there’s a whole tunnel system down here.” Ok, technically I can’t see that yet, but I know there are a bunch of paths down that big opening at the bottom. Huh, must be like thirty meters down.

“I’ve heard about these,” Carmine replied, sounding nervous but like she was trying to remain outwardly calm (which is probably as best as could be expected for an eight-year-old). “Keep on going down and try to find your way out, we’ll meet you down the outside of the mountain.”

Why would I need to go down? I can use my Aura and fly, possibly with aid from Dun or Miles, and… they don’t know I can do that, do they? “Hey, I think I can get back up. Guys? You there?”

No response probably meant that they had started running off down the mountain. Probably will be better to go down then and meet them there. Not that I need a huge excuse to explore this cool tunnel system, admittedly.

Turning back to the Carbinks I said “I should probably go down to meet my friends, but it was cool to see you all. I would have never guessed there was a place like this here…” The latter part I mostly said to myself, gazing around at this hidden wonder for a second before snapping back. “Ok, gotta go, bye now!” I said before hopping down.

There was a slightly alarmed chiming sound as the notch-eared one peered over the edge, to see me floating gently down. Ah, must be pretty weird for them to see someone that doesn’t naturally float able to drift down like that. I gave them a wave back as Gligar and Miles descended by my side, Miles just shooting straight down while Gligar dived and spun around acrobatically in the tight tunnel.

We came down to the opening to a far larger chamber below. There was a small pile of rocks at the center of the hemispherical expanse that we drifted into, wide and tall enough to fit a two-story house comfortably without touching the ceiling or shaft above. Two tunnels led out of the space horizontally, each of them wide enough for three to four people to walk abreast.

Pokemon scurried about the wide space below, looking up with some interest, however, it was the person standing by the corner that seemed most surprised by my entrance.

Seemed, because it was hard to tell for certain what she was feeling behind that ornate mask she wore. The mask was green and teal, likely modeled after Ogerpon’s mask, but with the snarling visage of an oni painted on it. She had a black silk jacket hanging open over top a red tank top, with black sweatpants hanging off her waist.

“Uh, hi there,” I tried, waving at her as I touched down on the ground. She continued to stare at me for a minute, not saying a word. I was starting to feel more than a little awkward before she barked out a harsh laugh.

“You’re an odd one, aren’t you?” She asked rhetorically. “It’s dangerous to be down here.” As if to accentuate her words, a large jet of steam burst out from a crack in the ground beside her, not that she seemed disturbed by it.

“I can handle myself,” I responded, releasing Dun. The Bronzors, Ekans, and even one Dunsparce all backed off just a tad at seeing the evolved Pokemon. I didn’t know Dunsparce was native here either. I wonder if, in some of the more dangerous parts of Kitakami, they have Dudunsparce. Could explain Carmine's knowledge of them.

The masked woman snorted. “You think that’s strong? I’ll be the judge of that.” She stepped forward, pulling out a Pokeball from a jacket pocket. Given the bulges there, I’d say she has at least three more Pokemon.

“Oh yeah? And who are you to be the judge of that?” I asked, more curious than anything, down for a battle no matter what.

The wild Pokemon who had been wary now immediately scattered, slipping away to the tunnels to get out of the way, or watch from a safe distance. It was clear that the worry was not from me taking a battle stance on the opposite end of the cavern from her, but her actions. Their fear made a lot more sense at her next words. “I’m Kotetsu, of the Kitakami Ogre Clan! My martial prowess will lay you low!”

Oh. Right, the Ogre Clan. Those super bosses that are hanging out in the DLC. There wasn’t much I could recall about them, but I remembered them being very high-level and having good teams. No backing out now, though.

To Gligar, who was hovering by my side, looking on eagerly at the prospect of a fight, I said: “Stand down. Or well, you can keep on flying, but you aren’t battling.”

“Gar!” She pouted angrily, dropping onto my shoulders. My knees buckled a bit at all her weight, but with a bit of Aura I managed to lighten the load and remain standing.

“No, I’m serious. Watch this battle, and analyze it for the future. In time, you’ll be ready to battle like this, but you’re still too injured for a battle of this caliber.” Honestly, you wouldn’t be ready for this kind of battle yet even if you were in peak health, but best not to say that.

She got off of me with some grumbling but still looked suspicious. Those suspicions faded when Kotetsu released her Pokemon, a Heracross.

This Heracross was similar in shape to the one I had fought a few days ago, but a male, with a sharper horn instead of the more spade-like one the females had. The other differences were night and day, however. He had a pale blue chitinous exoskeleton, battle-worn with many scars adorning his carapace. His yellow-ringed eyes burned with confidence, and there was a palpable feeling of power coming off of him that let me instantly tell how he was in an entirely different league than the wild one we had faced before.

I could tell Dun felt it too, a shiver passing through his scales. Nonetheless, he defiantly slithered forward, ready to fight. “Dudun!”

“Let the battle begin! Brick Break!” Kotetsu called out. By the time she had finished saying ‘begin’ I was already giving out my own order.

“Yawn then Glare!” Dun rapidly expanded as he took in air, releasing it in multiple clouds as the bug rushed towards him. Heracross dodged between the clouds easily, sidestepping and skittering low to close with my starter, and hit him with a quick chop. The blow sent Dun flying into the wall of the expanse we battled in, cracking it where he impacted.

“Dun!” I cried out, worried for a second, but despite the massive pain he must have been feeling, he managed to pull through, turning his prone body up from where he fell to Glare at his foe.

Heracross’ body seized up, right as the three clouds turned and closed in on him. Yes! Once he’s asleep we should be able to win, and Dun can hold out with Protect until it takes effect-

“Blow those away,” Kotetsu called out, shattering my dreams as her Pokemon, despite being Paralyzed, managed to slam his claws together. The shockwave from the impact blew away all three clouds before they could reach him with their soporific effect.

“How-” I bit my tongue, forcing down any disbelief at the maneuver to focus on the battle at hand. “Air Slash, widespread.” Dun narrowed his eyes but did as I said, even as I offered him an apologetic smile. With a few flaps of his wings, a wide screen of nigh-invisible blades of wind began cutting through the air.

He knows that I’m sacrificing his chance of winning this battle to focus on doing enough chip damage to make a victory possible with Miles. And even with that… Not needing a command from his trainer, Heracross once again began dodging and weaving around. From his, at times, awkward movements and footwork, I could tell it wasn’t that he was so skilled or naturally evasive to dodge Dun’s assault, but just a testament to the difference in speed and power between them.

Some of that speed had been curtailed by the Paralysis, however, which caught his forward progress at the right spot to let an Air Slash cut into his shoulder. Heracross hissed at the pain, but continued, dropping to all fours and Pouncing forward, his horn catching Dun and flipping him up in the air.

“Keep aloft and launch an all-out assault!” I cried out, and Dun shakily held himself up in the air, flapping his wings as hard as he could to push the air and keep himself aloft. As he did so, he screeched out a horrendous tone down at the bug beneath him. His Hyper Voice was pounding into Heracross, hurting our foe, but nowhere near as badly as the Air Slash had.

But he can’t manage more Air Slashes while doing this. Honestly, it’s a testament to how incredibly talented he is and how much he’s trained that he can work on two Moves of different Types at the same time, even if they both use different parts of his body.

Kotetsu wasn’t going to let this continue, however, and over the noise Dun was making I heard her calling out “Rock Blast!”

Heracross began ripping stone chunks out of the ground and hurling them at Dun with incredible force, enough that any hit would bring Dun down, and possibly even out. However, not one of the stones managed to land on him, his body weaving through the air around the stones. Once or twice it was close, but the slight lag as Heracross fought through Paralysis was enough to let him dodge the attacks until it was too late; a light breeze picked up to a swift stream of air pushing through the cavern.

I had no time to relish in Tailwind working in concert with the Hyper Voice combo, as Heracross had decided he’d had enough of this. With a mighty leap and the strength of his wings to push past the wind trying to hold him back, Kotetsu’s Pokemon had closed with mine, unleashing a flurry of insanely fast punches, each hit a blur even to my eyes.

Dun was launched clear across the room, bouncing around before he rolled to a stop in front of me. Giving a small groan, he slumped down, defeated.

That's definitely going to leave some bruises, even after a stop at the Pokemon ‘Center’. He didn’t look permanently hurt, though, so I resolved to worry about it later. “Great job Dun, we’ve got this in the bag now,” I said as I returned him to his Pokeball. In truth, I was a bit more worried about the match than I let on - We’ll be lucky if we beat just Heracross right now. But I think, there might be a chance for that.

“Miles, I need you to go caseless for this battle, ok?”

“Bzzt but wh- ah, I see,” Miles said, giving me a nervous smile before abandoning their preferred body and hovering in front of me on the battlefield. They had their lightning bolt-shaped plasmic ‘hands’ spread out wide, to best catch the wind that still swirled around them.

Ever so softly I heard Kotetsu click her tongue in frustration before calling out “Throat Chop.” No wonder she’s upset, both her STAB Types are hampered by Mile’s Ghost Typing in their base form. That extra speed is handy too - with it, Tailwind, and her Pokemon not being as practiced with Moves like Throat Chop as he was with Close Combat or Pounce, Miles can just keep out of range.

Miles zipped around the makeshift arena, the wind at their back enough to let him avoid the far more experienced opponent. “Will O’Wisp, drift type, contained pattern.”

It wasn’t a combination we had practiced often due to its limited situational use, but Miles executed it well. As they raced away from the ferocious bug, they conjured and left behind many of the fiery whisps as they passed, leaving them in Heracross’ path. The bug was able to avoid most of those, at least on the first pass.

As the two of them continued to zip around the enclosed area, Heracross had to start dodging the previous flames left behind and slowed down further. Then, he stumbled at the wrong time, the Paralysis slowing him down enough for Miles to easily pull ahead and the flames to Burn Heracross.

“Hex, take them down.” Rotom’s plasmic eyes gleamed and ghostly energy coalesced around the Bug Type, taking him down to one knee. Good, but… I should look toward the next battle too. Even if I doubt I can win, I have to do my best, for the sake of my Pokemon. All of them.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Gligar taking the battle in with rapt attention. It was an expression I knew well, seeing something similar in my face when I would watch high-level battles. The feeling when you see something so far above you… and know you have so much farther to go, to get beyond even that.

“Duplicity.” Another custom tactic we had been working on, and one I only felt half-confident in. Necessity proved to be the mother of advancement, as Miles sprouted a wicked grin on their face as they split into two, literally. Then again, and another time after that.

Melding Substitute and Nasty Plot together works quite well. The Moves don’t share a common Typing, but the nature of the Moves lets them work together about as well can be done. The creation of the Substitutes was about half of Miles max creation speed, and they got about half as much of a boost as they’d usually get from Nasty Plot, and it was so very worth it not to give the game away.

Kotetsu wasn’t going to let us set up endlessly, however, calling out “Bullet Seeds, hit the last one created each time.” Heracross puffed up his cheeks and began spitting out a hail of glowing green seeds, streaking across the cave like real bullets. Miles winced as one of the shots winged them, trying to dodge around while creating more Substitutes.

They kept on targeting the real Miles, and I had to resist the urge to grin as my strategy was working. Each shot that hit did hurt Miles, undoubtedly, and their energy was being drained by the repeated use of the hybrid Move. For every shot that glanced off Miles though, at least three more seeds missed. It was clear that this Move was not something Heracross was used to using on such a small target, so his aim was off. The Burn also sapped a lot of power he’d have from his attacks.

The Tailwind finally died down, presenting a shift in the fight dynamic. Kotetsu shook her head slightly as if saddened by the fact that I hadn’t made good enough use of the opportunity.

“Megahorn, finish this.” Heracross’ horn gleamed with green energy as he jumped across the battlefield. I could see the wings on his back fluttering as he streaked across the air, ready to fly and dodge around any attack my Rotom tried to direct at it.

“It’s over, Shock Wave!” Which is why I picked an attack that hit everything. Suddenly glowing quite brightly, a surge of electricity radiated off of Miles, zapping everything in the air around them. With nowhere to dodge, Heracross tried to punch through, only for his body to be struck immobile by the tremendous amounts of electricity surging through his body.

With one last cry, Heracross fell far short of Miles, collapsing down to the rocky ground below. That’s what a 4.5 times Special Attack Boost will do to you.

Kotetsu returned Heracross to his ball and looked up at the Substitute Rotoms floating about in the air, autonomous enough to spin around in circles and make telling them from the real one now impossible. Though she didn’t make a sound, and her face was impossible to read with that mask on, from her body language I could tell she was frustrated and possibly worried for the first time. As she should be. Miles got a massive boost to his damage, and the Substitutes can tank the super-strong attacks for him. We might actually have a chance here!

My opponent had re-evaluated and decided to change to a different Pokeball, one that when it opened seemed designed to crush my hopes then and there. Plated with heavy yellow ringed scales that clanged loudly, the large lizard-like Pokemon rose, staring dismissively at Miles (and their many copies) gathered before them. He even turned back to face his trainer, as if to say ‘This is who you call me to fight? What a waste of my talents.’

He might not even be wrong. Kommo-o, a pseudo-legendary. Hardly unbeatable, but one as well trained as hers is going to be tough, especially since I don’t have anything to take advantage of his Fairy super weakness. The small familiar almost Potion-shaped bottle that hung on a cord around his neck was almost as worrying as the Dragon Type himself.

“Clangorous Soul,” Kotetsu called out cooly. Kommo-o began shouting and thrashing about, shaking his scales to add to the cacophony. As the horrible sound invigorated him, he also clutched at the Throat Spray around his neck and squirted it into his mouth.

“Hex!” I desperately called out, not willing to risk taking the time to set up such a Move with a status condition, just hoping that the drain of Kommo-o’s Move and Miles boosts would be enough. With glowing plasmic eyes, ghostly energy began to close around our foe, seeming like they would trap him in a ring of pain and suffering. My hopes were dashed as the tall dragon blurred, leaving the shades that surrounded him in the dust as he practically flash-stepped behind Miles and hit him with a punch.

It wasn’t even a Move as far as I could tell but nonetheless sent what he hit flying into a wall… where it disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Being able to transfer over the tells, the signs of using a Move to their Substitutes took a fair amount of work and is part of why Miles knows so many less Moves than Dun, but that work has paid off. They still have five Substitutes left. Shock Wave won’t do much damage against a Dragon, but they can’t dodge it. If we get lucky-

“Finish this, Clanging Scales!” The Fighting Type Trainer commanded, and her dragon was more than happy to do her bidding. Smashing his armored arms together and clover-like tail to the ground, I saw the air ripple towards Miles and all their duplicates, a wave of sound preparing to crash through them and all their Substitutes - only to be met by a transparent pale pink barrier holding out against the assault.

My eyes flashed up to the ceiling where I saw the notch-eared Carbink valiantly diving down, interposing themselves between Miles and the attack, just as the soundwaves pushed through the Light Screen the Carbink had conjured.

The powerful attack still wiped out all of the Substitutes and sent Miles reeling backward, but the brunt of it was heavily weakened by Light Screen and Carbink’s natural immunity to Dragon-type attacks.

“What’s this?!” Kotetsu hissed, and I ran forward (though not directly into the midst of the fighting), waving my arms and hoping to derail this before something bad could happen.

“Stop, STOP!” Kommo-o paused, holding off on unleashing a ruinous assault, while Carbink just looked confused, tilting their head/whole body at me. “We were just training, practice. No one is really hurt. Trainers battle with their Pokemon to see who’s stronger and improve but neither side should be seriously hurt.”

“Been a while since I fought someone that could take down even one of my Pokemon, but even with your friend here, you can’t beat Kommo-o!” Kotetsu proudly declared, crossing her arms. I eyed that dragon up. Nice of her to give me the handicap but…

“Yup, you’re right,” I agreed, recalling Miles to their Pokeball, much to her visible surprise, even with the mask obscuring her face. Laughing, I added, “I like to think I’m good, but I’d definitely lose here. Better to keep some of my team able to fight than pointlessly get beat.”

She nodded. “Smart choice. I guess you’re strong enough to travel through here,” She casually admitted, as if the strength her Pokemon had shown wasn’t magnitudes beyond any of the Pokemon here. “If you ever come back to Kitakami, I’d like to battle you again, mystery girl.”

“Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself,” My cheeks were dusted with crimson from embarrassment as I realized that fact. Should try to be more polite than that. Looking at both Kotetsu and Carbink, I said “My name is Nemona Glitterati, and I’m going to be the best Trainer in the world!”

That got a snort from Kotetsu, though she sounded intrigued. Carbink on the other hand was looking at me wide-eyed, hovering over and bumping into my hand and arm. “Hey! Wha- what’s up?”

They made more chiming sounds that I couldn’t understand, and while I had gotten better at understanding Pokemon in general, I was failing at this limited game of charades.

Do they want me to catch them? Maybe, but I feel like something else is going on here. “Now that you know what battling is like, did you like that battle?” I asked, and the Pokemon eagerly bobbled. Ok, so they were curious enough to watch but didn’t quite get how battling worked at first. I don’t think they’re familiar enough with the concept of being trained to have that be what they were looking for…

I saw them drift down to the ground, trying to draw symbols in the ground again. “Oh! You want to be a Diancie! Or to be more particular, you want arms,” I figured out, to which Carbink gave an excited chime. Kotetsu chuckled softly, recalling her Dragon Type as she watched us interact.

“I’m sorry, but like I said, I don’t know how Carbinks change into Diancies.” At the sad look in their eyes, I added “But if you want to work with me, I promise I’ll do everything in my power to help you achieve your goal. It’ll mean training hard every day and lots of battles, but I hope those will help and-” My words were cut off by them tackling me in an enthusiastic approximation of a hug.

“Hrk,” I grunted. “Yup, you’ll fit right in.” As I said that and hugged them, I heard Gligar scoffing. “Don’t be worried, I wouldn’t be prepared to call myself a Pokemon Trainer if I couldn’t train a full team of six, at least. You’ll all get plenty of training, and I think you’ll be able to help each other grow.”

Gligar looked skeptical as if wondering what a floating rock could do. “I’m serious, Carbink are incredibly tough, so they’ll challenge how well you can manage battles of attrition, and they’ll learn how to deal with more agile foes from you. It’s how we get stronger together.”

Kotetsu spoke up “Alright, enough of this sappy stuff. You fought hard and should have no regrets. Continue down that tunnel-” She pointed to one of the exits. “And you’ll find your way out of the mountain.” She tilted her masked head to the side “You should be fine in this cave, and most of the mountain, but try to avoid going too far North; your strength is insufficient for what waits there.”

Her brutal assessment felt like a slap in the face, but I could find no words to deny it. While I haven’t been there in this life, I remember seeing the kinds of Pokemon that roamed far away from civilization in Kitakami. Dusknoirs, Grimmsnarls, and more. Bloodmoon Ursaluna in the mists. That one hurt the most to miss out on. Reminding myself of the dangers I had warned Kieran of and how I should take those words myself, I simply nodded.

I gave her a small bow, thanking her for the match before heading down. There were several more shafts and long drops, the first one leading straight into a large underground pool. I used Miles (after healing them up) to drift down and to the side, avoiding getting soaked.

Most of the Pokemon were making themselves scarce, hiding in the shadowy corners of the tunnels. Oddly enough, I noticed many Ekans and Salandits hiding behind Clefairys and even Cleffas. Why are they- oh, right, Kommo-o was making some noise and a Fairy Type would be the best defense against that. Not that I think any or even all of the Fairies in this cave could manage to beat that monster. I can’t wait till we get that strong.

Exiting out into the bright light, Gligar and I shielded our eyes, her hissing as if it was an affront to her very being. Carbink however just stared at it, unblinking. “Uhh, you sure you want to do that? It’ll hurt to stare too long.”

They just looked at me confused with their clear blue eyes. “...Or maybe not, different biologies and all.” My attention was drawn up the side of the mountain as we heard Kieran and Carmine calling out as they raced down to us.

“Oh boy, you guys aren’t gonna believe what happened!”