Welcome to Gaia! ::

Upon getting the mission, I had Rala teleport us to Castelia City's Pokemon Center. Normally, when given such an opportunity as this, I'd check in with my mother and make sure she's doing okay on her own, and show her the Pokemon I've been raising. But as the last time I saw her was just after I woke from my coma, and had left before recovering fully without her knowing it until it was too late, I wasn't quite mentally ready to face her again, even though I got back on her good side over the phone shortly after the events of that day. So, I made my way through the ports of the city, looking for passage to Mossdeep Island. Or to Lilycove on the mainland if the former option wasn't available, as that turned out to be the case. I did manage to book passage on a boat headed to Lilycove that was on it's way out, though.

I couldn't help but chuckle as I watched Rala lean against the railing of the ship as it left port. "Didn't take you for the type to enjoy the sea air," I smirked.

"It feels nice," Rala responded, "But mostly, it just feels nice to get out and about. Our little adventures don't last very long, usually."

"In other words, you're just happy to be above ground," I smirked, after trying to think of a way to voice what I was thinking without openly mentioning Snagem. Both because I wasn't making it open that I was a member, and because I had no clue how the team was seen by Unovians.

"Maybe," Rala retorted with a wink.

"Man, some people just get all the luck," some kid sighed as he walked up to us. "A female Gardevoir, AND it talks, too! Jeez. Makes me wonder how much time you've spend wading through oceans of male Ralts to get her."

"A, she's communicating telepathically, and B, can't say I appreciate your tone," I told him. "I'm not a fan of people treating Pokemon like they're objects to be collected. Or worse, trophies to be earned."

"Bullcrap, you have to have a strong bond with a Psychic-type to speak with them telepathically! No Psychic-type is strong enough to just shout at everyone around them and be heard. It doesn't work like that!"

This made both Rala and me smirk. "Someone needs to introduce this kid to Gardy," I remarked, making Rala giggle. I was quick to drop my smirk, though. "You're making my head hurt, kid. Get to the point," I added, lying about the cranium pain.

"I challenge you to a battle." It was the kid's turn to smirk. "I get one of your Pokemon of my choice if I win, and you-"

"There you go again. Both in one sentence. Bad enough people bet money on these things," I sighed, starting to get agitated. "I'm not giving you anything. But I will battle you. I could use the stress relief."

"Fine. At least I can get bragging rights when I win," he sighed, letting a Pidgeotto out of its ball. I couldn't help but laugh a little, which of course caught the kid's attention. "What's so funny?"

I shrugged. I didn't care in the least about rarity, but the irony was too obvious to not comment on. "Not that I care, but did you didn't wade at all, huh?"

"Man, forget you! This Pidgeotto was a gift! AND my starter! AND she's my strongest Pokemon!"

There were so many things I could have said about that , but it was clear that I had touched a nerve, so I dropped it and let Yuki out of her ball. This was not recieved well. "Huh? Hey! What gives?"

To this, I shrugged. "What? I never agreed to using Rala in our battle. She's having fun. Let her be."

"Ugh, whatever," the kid spat. "Pidgeotto, Quick Attack!"

Pidgeotto was quick to lunge at Yuki, not giving me time to tell her to dodge. Not that she could have with her lack of experience. "Nasty Plot, Yuki," I told her flatly. The Pichu would respond by flitting around the deck, coating her body in Dark-type energy and studying Pidgeotto in the process. The result would be a large boost to her ability with special attacks.

"Two people can play the stat boost game, ya know! Agility, Pidgeotto!" the kid shouted. His Pidgeotto would begin flitting around the deck as well, but with Psychic-type energy coating its body.

"Not bad," I smirked calmly. "Kinda wasted since you have a priority move with Quick Attack, but it'll speed up your other moves, I guess. Okay, Yuki, give that bird a little kiss."

Yuki would dash around the deck at random, trying to catch Pideotto off-guard. When she was sure that Pidgeotto was confused as to Yuki's location, the Pichu would leap up and plant a Fairy-type energy-soaked kiss on Pidgeotto's beak before falling back to my side. Pidgetotto would be so confused by this that she'd forget to flap her wings and fall, crasshing into a couple of tables. Her trainer would be quick to run up to her and help her out of the rubble, though. "Come on, Pidgeotto, snap out of it!"

"Good job, Yuki. Now, give that Pidgeotto a demonstration of your charm." I said with a smirk. Yuki responded by creating a heart of out Fairy-type energy and flinging it at the discheveled Pidgeotto, harshly dropping its Attack.

"Stat DROPS, now!?" the kid retorted, sounding just a little upset. "Fine. I'll play along. Pidgeotto, use Feather Dance!"

Despite being dizzied by confusion, Pidgeotto managed to get in the air enough to start flapping incessantly, dropping Flying-type energy-infused feathers down on Yuki, who quickly fell for the trap and started playing with the fuzzy feathers.

I shrugged in response. "Meh. Wasn't planning on using many physical attacks, anyway. But don't worry, I'm done messing with non-damaging moves. Use Thundershock, Yuki."

Yuki let out a bolt of electricity at the Pidgeotto, who despite using her dizziness to try to dodge the attack, managed to get hit anyway. Unfortunately, since Yuki hadn't quite learned how to fully control her electricity, she wound up shocking herself, as well, though this did very little damage to her, while Pidgeotto would be hurting considerably, to the point of falling back down on the deck beside her trainer.

"I am so done with this," the kid growled as he got on his feet. "No more type advantage. Whirlwind, Pidgeotto!"

Pidgeotto, who luckily didn't get paralyzed by Yuki's attack, flew back up into the air and flapped her wings powerfully, creating a massive gust of wind that knocked Yuki off the deck and almost into the ocean. I tried recalling her, but Rala was quicker, teleporting to her position, picking her up, and teleporting back to my side and placing Yuki on a table before teleporting herself in front of the kid, giving him a red-eyed glare. "What were you thinking? Yuki could have seriously gotten hurt from falling in the ocean at that speed, not to mention her electricity hitting water, it could have hurt a lot of wild Water Pokemon, as well. I would NEVER let myself follow a trainer like you! A REAL trainer would never let a Pokemon fall into danger like that, regardless if the Pokemon is their own or somebody else's!"

The kid looks on in shock as Rala huffs and walks away, returning to her spot near the rails of the ship. "Hey! I wasn't trying to throw that Pichu overboard! She was supposed to get knocked back into her Pokeb... whatever. This fight is pointless. Not like I'm getting anything out of it, anyway."

With that, the kid recalled his Pidgeotto and walked away. This agitated Rala further, and she was about to walk toward him to yell some more, but I put my hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Some people refuse to learn right away. Give him time to think about what happened. Besides, I doubt he intentionally threw Yuki overboard."

Rala slowly relented, saying "Yes, master," reluctantly before leaning against the rails again, her back to the sea. Whatever fun she was having had clearly been sucked away by that fight. This made me sigh. "I'm heading back to the room we were assigned. You can join me if you want," I said, walking away. Despite everything, though, Rala stayed outside. I didn't see her again until the ship docked at Lilycove City, from which we had to take a smaller ferry to make it to Mossdeep City.



I stood before the Mossdeep City gym. I took a bit of time to sightsee and familiarize myself with the island, but now it was time to get started. I opened the doors gently but swiftly, taking determined steps into what would likely be my home for some time.

"Hey, there, Champ in the making!" the announcer said as I made my way in. "Tate and Liza use Psychic-types! Ghost-types and Dark-types are the Pokemon to bring into this gym due to their advantage, but keep Fighting types far-"

"I'm not here for the Mind Badge," I said, stealing the announcer's thunder. I showed him my Trainer's License as I was expecting to be expected. "I'm here to study under the Gym Leader."

It didn't sink in when he first mentioned it since I was too busy cutting him off, but now that he said it again, it gave me pause for thought. "Wait, what? I thought the leader of this gym was an older gentleman. That's who I talked to prior to making the trek here," I told the announcer like it meant anything to him.

Color me confused.

When I realized what had happened, I scoffed, and brushed my shoulders for no good reason. "Rude," I huffed.

I could feel my Trainer's blood pumping when I saw the battlefield. It definitely had the feel of a place where history was made and lives were changed. Though there was something off about it. Something not like what normal battlegrounds would have.

Rala let herself out of her ball and walked beside me as I moved in to investigate. "...well, he's alive," I said after checking the old man's pulse. "Wonder what he's doing sleeping here, though. This isn't exactly the safest place for a nap."

While I pondered what to do about him, Rala let herself into his mind, gently suggesting that it was time to wake up. Whether he was too tired to do so... well, we had no way of knowing that.

Rala didn't have time to express her surprise at how difficult it was to reach the mind of the old man, as he Teleported across the arena. Both she and I, I assume, were a bit worried about him when he mentioned back pain, but being set upright by his Claydol companion seemed to fix the problem, so we didn't do anything rash like have Rala use Heal Beam on him. At least, not yet.

Mind you, I didn't recognize the man from looking at him, but I definitely recognized the voice. He certainly sounded like the guy I talked to over the phone. "My name is Terashi," I said simply. "I'm here seeking training... I guess. I called you earler, after recently discovering that I have talent as a Channeler, to see about getting some instruction in that area." I explained, in case he didn't remember the conversation in question.

After taking the egg from the old man, I stood there and stared at it for a few good minutes. "Don't think I'm ungrateful, because I'm not," I said. A free Pokemon egg was a free Pokemon egg, regardless of the circumstances. "But being tested on a subject before learning the subject matter is a bit of a recipe for disaster, isn't it?"

"Were we not sent here for training?" Rala asked, finishing my thought for me. At least, I thought that was what we were sent here for. The whole point of this was to get me ready to learn how to be a channeler. All other things aside, though, how was I supposed to bond with an egg?

"Throwing me to the Mightyena, eh?" I asked with a smirk that didn't really belong on my face at the moment. "I'm willing to accept the challenge."

"Hello there, little Pokemon in the egg," Rala said telepathically to the unhatched egg after hearing the suggestion from one of the younger Gym Leaders.

"Uh, I think they meant for me to speak to it telepathically," I told Rala.

"How?" Rala asked, looking as confused as I felt. "You've never shown telepathic tendencies before. I've always had to either hear you speak or read your mind to know how to respond to you."

To this, I shrugged. "Maybe I'm supposed to bounce my thoughts off of you and onto the baby. Or take some of your energy and use it to broadcast my thoughts at a short range, hoping the baby hears it. Er, my conscious thoughts, anyway."

It was probably pretty obvious by now that I had no idea what I was doing. I wasn't that quick of a learner, either - the only reason I knew so much about Pokemon and how to train them was because I studied my butt off for nine years, despite the talent I showed for Pokemon battles. This was completely uncharted territory for me, though I was willing to give it my all and see where it took me.

"...yeah, we'll get out of your hair,"" I sighed, putting the egg in my duffel bag and mentally nudging Rala to teleport us out of the gym, which she was quick to do. I wasn't really in the mood to mess with warp panels at the moment.

"What are we going to do?" Rala asked telepathically once we appeared in the Mossdeep Pokemon Center.

'...I'm not sure. For right now, I'm gonna talk to the Nurse about getting a room for the night. After that, we can try some things and see if they work."

I walked away from Rala and spoke to the nurse. Fortunately, it didn't take much doing to get a bunk bed in a community bedroom that the Pokemon Center keeps clean for passing trainers.

I noticed the slip of paper and read it but didn't react, though it did set my imagination on wildfire, and I wound up having a dream about Tate and Liza being oppressed by their grandfather. It was a weird historical kind of dream where their grandfather was a warlord opposed to this nation that I ruled and we used Pokemon as soldiers to fight wars and it was literally the weirdest s**t ever.

I woke up early in the morning and got dressed quickly, bringing my encapsuled Pokemon with me to the beach, where Liza was supposedly waiting.The early morning sky was surprisingly dark, but there was enough moonlight around to see where I was going - though it also helped that the sun was about seconds from beginning its slow climb into the sky.