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Minesweeper

Objective: We need you to take care of the remains of the minefield that exists around Virbank City. While our previous efforts did some damage, a more through sweep is required in order to guarantee that the threat of the minefield has been neutralized.

I exited the Pokemon Center in Virbank with Rala and Yuki by my side. I annoyed me that there were still minefields around the town despite the hard work Crystal and I put in to clearing them out. Keiko still hadn't returned from the war for some reason, so I was going alone. But with Yuki having evolved to her half-Psychic Alolan Form, I wasn't strapped for Psychic-types to put in this work with.

"Ugh, really" I heard Yuki whine telepathically. "We're doing THIS again!?"

"Things will be a bit different, this time around," I told her, getting the Raichu's attention. "Since you have access to Psychic, you can help Rala disarm and dispose of the landmines."

"Then who's keeping Electric Terrain up?" Yuki asked, thinking she was calling me out on some bullcrap.

"That'll still be up to you," I told her. "Electric Terrain lasts a little while before fizzling you, so you should be able to bounce between using Psychic and Electric Terrain, which will keep things from getting stale for longer, and help you practice your new abilities."

Yuki huffed, but she was happy for the opportunity to see what her new Psychic powers were capable of. "Fine. Let's just get this over with."

"Agreed wholeheartedly, there," I shrugged, hoping that we'd cleared out all the mines last time we were here.

By the time I got Yuki to agree to help, we were outside of the city. "Alright, let's stop here, for now. Yuki, I want you to hang back for a bit and pay close attention to how Rala-"

"I know how she does it, okay?" Yuki insisted. "I had plenty of time to watch her use her energy when I was keeping Electric Terrain up earlier,"

"Alright, alright," I said, trying to calm her down a bit. I had to admit, I was a bit surprised to learn that Yuki was this confrontational, but then, she's been through a lot in a short amount of time. Not that we all haven't, what with Flare randomly deciding to stick their egos in a region they don't belong in.

"Alright, that's far enough," I said, once we found some of the trenches encircling the town. "Somebody really ought to put the dirt back in these grooves. Though I guess the mines wouldn't help that sort of endeavor. So we'd better get them out of here quick. You're up, Yuki," I said, knocking myself out of my musing before I spent all day thinking about the problem instead of solving it.

Yuki immediately used Electric Terrain.. to no avail. Surprisingly, there were no mines in this area. Was this the stretch of trench we worked on last time we were here? Well, that makes things a bit easier, I suppose. "Alright, next area, then," I shrugged.

It took us a few tries, but eventually, we found an area of trench with landmines still in it. Once we did, Rala and Yuki both walked toward them, using Confusion and Psychic to lift the landmines that shone from coming into contact with Electric Terrain, activate them, and throw them in the air to detonate harmlessly.

This went on for a good hour, before Yuki started to get fatigued. Despite her evolution, she was still new to using Psychic-type energy, and she didn't have a weak move to use like Rala did. "Can we take a break already!?" she whined, causing me to sigh.

"Alright, take five," I said reluctantly. I understood that she was wearing herself out, but I wanted to get this job done as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, we held back for a bit to let Yuki recover her energy. To my surprise, we quickly found out while we were resting that we had an audience.

After a moment, a Dewott with one of its scalchops in its mouth leaped at me, causing Yuki to cut it off and use Charge to fuzz up her fur, making her look more threatening. Nevermind, her type advantage. "Oh, no you don't! I'm not letting you get the drop on my trainer like that!"

The Dewott responded by spitting out the scalchop in its mouth with Pokespeak, but nothing it said made Yuki relent. Rala, however, had a much different reaction. "Master, this Pokemon claims that you are its trainer."

My thoughts shifted immediately to Samurai, and as I thought that, he pulled a Pokedex from his otherwise empty scalchop pocket and handed it to me. Yuki tried to stop him, but I wasn't having it. "Stand down," I told her. This made her drop her charge immediately and look up at me in worry. But I didn't feel up to explaining things, instead taking the Pokedex from the seemingly wild Dewott's hands. The color the Pokedex was painted in marked it as a Pokedex issued by Pokemon Tech in Kanto, to its graduates, and sure enough, it had a gold-emblazoned symbol on the top right of the front of the device - my family's symbol.

"This is the Pokedex my father made for me, which was to be issued to me upon my graduation. This is one of many things that one of Team Cipher's freelancers took from me," I explained to Yuki without looking at her, only to focus my attention on the 'wild' Pokemon. "You're Samurai, aren't you?"

Rala gasped audibly, and the Dewott cheered happily. He was indeed the first Pokemon I ever trained. But instead of leaping into my arms, he put the displaced scalchop back in its holder on his waist and ran off, as if to show me something.

"Samurai, wait!" I shouted, causing him to look back to me in confusion. I motioned for him to come to me, and he reluctantly did so. Once he leaped up into my arms, I turned to Yuki.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, knowing what I'd ask of her when I told Samurai not to advance. She used Electric Terrain again, in the direction that Samurai came from and was trying to return to. Nothing came up, however - there were no landmines in the area.

"Alright, Samurai, what is it you're trying to show me?" I asked. Samurai leaped from my arms onto the ground and began running. Rala, Yuki, and I chased after him, eventually leading us to a stump. But, somebody was waiting for him there.

"Knew you'd wind up back here, you little ~/~," the man grunted, smirking maliciously as Samurai came into view. It didn't take me long to realize who it was - the second I saw his face, I knew who he was. He took my Pokemon, he took Keiko's Pokemon, he put me in a coma for a year and put Keiko's life in danger...

For a second, I though I was crushing his windpipe with my mind. But one glance at Rala clued me into what was really going on. "You've got a lot to pay for, buddy,"

Despite having Rala's Psychic used on him, he only smirked. "Back for round two, buddy? They told me you've been getting into the Psychic-types, Not that that'll help you against my best friend. Hell, you don't even have your girlfriend to protect you like last time."

"Seems like your circlejerk squad's gone missing, too. And the funny thing about people like you is that you don't function so well alone," I scoffed, not about to be intimidated again.

"Ha! You must have forgotten who I ROLL WITH!" he shouted, letting a Hydregion out of its ball. This creature... it was one of the main reasons I lost before. But it wasn't the only Pokemon he had back then. But it was, now.

I let Angeal out in response, who responded quickly by whistling at it. "Whoo, big boy. Got a lot of height going for ya, huh? What say we knock you down a peg, let you get a little closer to home?"

Angeal used Focus Energy on the spot, getting pumped up for the fight ahead. I smirked, as it took our opponent a moment to collect himself. But then, he only had the one Pokemon on him, unlike last time.

"Going for the same strategy, huh? Tch, I can read you like a book. Use Earthquake, Hydregion!" he shouted.

"Sky Uppercut!" I shouted. Angeal mvoed immediately, managing to lift Hydregion off the ground before it could get enough traction to shake the earth. "Rala, charge a Moonblast! Yuki, get Signal Beam ready."

"About time I get to use a different move," Yuki huffed.

"Tch! You Snagems and your stupid attacking all at once. You're not gonna overpower Hydregion! Use Roar!" he demanded. Though Angeal scored a hit, Hydregion was able to aim all three of its heads at Angeal and Roar at him, forcing him to return to his ball.

I growled at this, but was quick to bring Haku out of his ball in response. "Close Combat, Haku!" I shouted.

Haku waited for Hydregion to land, before launching himself int o the triple-headed beast, landing blow after blow into his scaly hide. "Don't let him beat you! Dragon Rush!"

Hydregion was quick to halt Haku's approach by imbuing itself with Dragon-type energy and rushing at him, colliding against Haku's small body and slamming it against a tree.

'Are you alright, Haku!?" I shouted. It took a moment, but he got up. "Alright, good. I need you to try to get behind him and use Reversal. With the damage you've taken, it should launch him toward Rala and Yuki. You got it?"

Haku roared, and lunged at Hydregion, as if to attack. "Just finish him off with Dragon Claw. No way he has much fight left in him," Hydregion's trainer huffed. Haku, expected this, though, and leaped past Hydregion's slash and onto his arm, eventually running over him and dropping down behind him. Once at this point, Haku used Reversal, lifting Hydregion up by his hind quarters and throwing him at Rala, Yuki, and myself.

"Rala, Yuki, now!" I shouted. Rala released her Moonblast attack at the same time as Yuki launched her Signal Charge, both attacks slamming into Hydregion and sapping the last of the energy that the dark dragon had left.

Hydregion landed on its back, with no energy left. Its trainer tried telling it to get back up, but it was unable to do so. By the time the former Cipher mercenary addressed me, I was already in his face, with Rala's energy wrapped around his throat. "You're done here," was all I said before Rala launched him skyward, his body disappearing into the morning sky.

"Thanks, Haku," I said before sighing deeply, recalling him to his ball. "Get some rest.

"What will you do about Hydregion?" Rala asked, unable to read my mind with all the thoughts racing through it. "You could snag it. It is a powerful Pokemon."

"No, I'll have to snag Samurai, and he takes priority," I explained. resting my foot on the joint of Hydregion's open Pokeball that feel from the former Cipher mercenary before he was sent flying. "He destroyed Samurai's ball before knocking me out, so I'll have to re-catch Samurai, and likely Snag him at that."

"What will you do about Hydregion, then?" she asked, though I could tell she had a good idea of what I was about to do.

"Give him the best option available," I shrugged, "And extend that p***k the same courtesy he showed me," I added, pressing down on the joint of Hydregion's ball until it snapped, effictively releasing it from its trainer's control.

"He'll be better off leading a happy life in the Unovan wilderness than listening to a fool like that," I explained as Samurai ran toward me, my old Cross-transceiver in his hands.

"Thanks buddy," I said calmly, taking the device from him and patting him on his head for a job well done. How he protected this things for me, I wasn't about to guess. Though mainly, I was just happy to see him again. Then, I held up a Pokeball and put it through my Snag Machine's Snag Ball maker. "Sorry about this, but I've got to recatch you, and using a Snag Ball for this is just a precautionary measure. Don't know if anybody' s tried putting you in a ball since last we met."

Samurai nodded and drew his scalchops. I could feel the excitement he was experiencing - he wanted to see what new Pokemon I caught since we parted ways.

Once the ball was ready, I took it and let Sauron out of his ball. "Sorry to ask you of this, but I need you to weaken Samurai, here. This Dewott was one of the first Pokemon I ever trained, and I want to add him to the party again," I explained.

Sauron didn't know Samurai, but smiled at him after hearing my explanation, which got Samurai to greet him in return. The pair dropped the facade, quickly, both dropping into battle positions. Samurai acted first, though, striking at Sauron with Fury Cutter. Before I could get an order in, Sauron instinctively responded with Vine Whip, knocking Samurai back.

"Good instinct," I said, despite the danger Sauron put Samurai in by using a super-effective move. The move was relatively weak, though, so that's why I didn't panic. "Now, use Sleep Powder on Samurai," I ordered. Sauron spread the Sleep Powder across the area, and before long, Samurai passed out.

Not wanting Samurai to suffer any longer, I threw the Snag-modified Pokeball, and thankfully, he stayed in it long enough for the capture to be confirmed. With that, I let GRAY move him to the Snagem Box I kept a few other extras in and recalled Sauron, going back to work hunting landmines with Rala and Yuki.

About a half hour later, we'd done a full rotation around Virbank City. Satisfied that the job was done, I recalled Yuki and had Rala warp us back to HQ.

With Flare ousted in Unova, at least for the time being, recuperation efforts were on their way by the Unovan authorities. Unforutnately, there were many problems to be had for them, which the Snagems had to take it upon themselves to rectify before they moved on to another major crisis bound to happen. One such task was getting the refugees directed where they needed to go, and the key to that puzzle was communication. Reno, of all people, managed to get a communication radio system online and ready to go for such a task. However, it was getting it dispersed out to those leading the way that was going to be an issue. The signal needed to be dispersed to a few key players that were leading the residents out: Cheren, a recently appointed Asperta City Gym Leader and near unrivaled strategist, Roxie, Virbank’s own gym leader and band leader, Alder, former Unovan champion and survival expert, and Hugh, high-ranking Pokemon trainer as well as a volunteer guard for refugees. These individuals will then coordinate their own groups, divulging the signal to those under them, so information can spread at a rapid pace and efforts can be well on the way for those less fortunate and more so, unable to defend themselves. The four in question would be expecting a messenger soon.

Missing the chaos that went underway during the battle at the Virbank docks, Snagem’s Electrike hybrid, Tristen, took up the task of playing messenger boy. Though it didn’t get any sort of approval from his father figure; he didn’t know. The moment Tristen even gave the notion of slight interest of making up for missing out on the mission, Reno gave Tristen the info and shoved him out the door, turning the whole idea of volunteering into a draft. It wasn’t something the boy was going to argue over. He did really want to help.

Tristen would arrive in Floccesy Town by means of teleporting in by Xatu. He got word that the refugees would be eventually cut through here, so it would be best to cut everyone off at the pass. For that matter, Alder was supposedly already here, getting ready to provide support, as far as what Tristen was told before showing up. He would recall Xatu and rush off. As the boy ran through the streets, he started to notice that there was a desolate air about here. Now that he noticed, there weren’t that many people here in town, rather…fewer than what’s known to be in a town like this. It was a possibility that even Floccesy Town was being abandoned because of what went on in Virbank and fears of chaos spreading over this way may be looming about. Virbank wasn’t too far from here, now that the boy thought of it. Such an idea wasn’t so farfetched. There may be a good possibility that they too may be heading towards the refugee camp a ways away from here, just in case.

Tracking Alder down was perhaps the easiest part to this. Alder stuck out like a sore thumb; really big and tall by human standards and had the funniest hair that his father at one time made fun of, though not directly in front of the former Unovan champion, mind. The last time he saw this man was during the Challenger Cave contest that he and his adoptive father teamed up in. Though that’s been a few years now. His memory served him well, never the less, when he found the man matching the description he remembered oh too well, accompanied by a Bouffalant. The two looked to be on patrol, making sure that there was no unwelcome company that was coming into town. “Mr. Alder!” Tristen shouted to the man. The man stopped walking and looked back behind him, seeing the Electrike hybrid run up to him.

“Hello there, how can I help you?” The man spoke, trying to bring some joviality into such a grim time.

“I was told that you-uh…” Tristen took out his SNAG and turned it on. “You needed this?” Tristen showed the man the screen, where it was displaying the radio signal information.

“You’re with Snagem? Well, that explains it.” Alder said, noting the SNAG as well as the radio signal information. Alder takes out his own device that hung around his neck and under his poncho. It looked reminiscent to the PokeGears typically found around Jhoto, Tristen noted. The man started to fiddle away at the device, tuning into Reno’s signal. “There…yessss. That’s it.” Alder took a listen then spoke up. “Test, test, one two-oh hey there. Yes. Alder here.” A pause for a couple of seconds. “Mmhm, got it. Loud and clear on this end. Thanks.” He then allowed the PokeGear to hang once more. “Thank you my young friend……you look familiar, do I know you?”

“Challenger Cave.”

“Cobalion. I remember now. You were with the Articuno man. Wait, you two are with Snagem? You’ve been-huh…” A realization just came over Alder, a little dumbstruck over a moment of clarity.

“What?”

“I didn’t imagine they’d allow anyone so…young…err, no offense.”

“They usually don’t.” Tristen said rather flatly. No offense, maybe. It still felt like being rubbed wrong.

“Though, I suppose considering everything, you done more than your fair share to show even the young can do as much as an adult can.” Such a notion didn’t ease Tristen’s pride. The boy was once again reminded just how much a kid can be underestimated and he didn’t particularly care for it. “Oh, don’t listen to this old fool.” Alder said with a bit of a laugh. “Besides, you got more on your plate than trying to prove yourself to me, right?”

“I guess…” Tristen said. “Where can I find any of the others?”

“Roxie and Hugh should be on their way here and Cheren should be at the refugee camp that’s being constructed just close by.” Alder said.

“Got it.” Tristen said, rushing off, taking out another Pokeball and releasing the Pokemon inside. “Dragonite!” Tristen shouted. In a flash, the mighty dragon came forth from the Pokeball, roaring out as he does so. Tristen hops on the Dragonite’s back, hanging on to around his neck. “Dragonite, we gotta go to a refugee camp close by. That way.” Tristen said.

“Arrro.” The Dragonite kicked off the ground and took flight, carrying the boy off into the skies. Sure enough the trip would be short, lasting for roughly a minute thanks to Dragonite compared to however long it would have taken on foot. Dragonite landed, a loud thud as its heavy feet made touchdown with the ground. The sudden arrival of a Dragonite shocked quite a few people already here trying to get supplies moved and shelter erected about the compound, enough of a shock that got a few people at the ready to square off with their own Pokemon.

“Huh? WOAH! WAIT WAIT! DON’T SHOOT!” Tristen shouted. Tristen hopped off the back of Dragonite, taking out his SNAG. “Come in peace and that stuff! I need to see uh…Che…Cheren?”

“That would be me.” From the group, accompanied by a Stoutland came a man, real slender with long black hair, charts under his arm, perhaps maps of the surrounding area. The male adjusts his glasses, looking at Tristen. “Though, excuse me if I’m…a little taken aback by who they send to deliver messages.”

“……..don’t say it.” Tristen said, a spark shooting off from his crests and eyes narrowing, still feeling his pride wounded by Alder earlier.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. Besides, not the craziest thing I’ve seen. Heh, a friend and old rival of mine decimated Team Plasma years ago when he was about your age…well, at the very least put a massive hurting before the Rangers came in, finished them off, and took all the credit.”

“They were good at doing that.” Tristen recalled being told.

“Though, Plasma, being the roaches they are, had to be put down twice. Fortunately someone else took the job of the second coming.” Cheren mused. “Memory lane aside, do you have it?” Tristen approached Cheren, showing him the SNAG. “Hmmm…follow me.” Cheren leads Tristen to a nearby tent where there was a rather highly sophisticated radio transmitter that filled roughly a third of the space in the tent. Cheren laid the charts he had on a nearby table then went to the transmitter, borrowing Tristen’s SNAG once again to look at the codes and signal numbers and tuned into the transmitter to Reno’s signal. Cheren puts on a headset, sitting down on a folding chair, trying to get the signal off just right.

“Hello. Testing. This is Refugee Camp A.F.V. Can you read? This is Refugee Camp A.F.V.-you’re coming in full of static still. Stand by.” A few more adjustments. “Radio check. Check. Check. Check. Ah there we go. Loud and clear. Mr. Reno, we’re good to go on this end. Alder, good to hear you. Any word on the refugees yet? …….no? That’s weird, they should have been to you by now. No, Reno, though they were supposed to be taking a large detour just in case because of the landmines. …….yes, he’s still with us over here. ………Gotcha. I’ll let him know.” Cheren slides the headphones around his neck and looks back at Tristen. “Apparently you’re needed to go find the refugees that are supposed to be here. There are supposed to be other of your comrades looking for them as well right at this moment, but one particular group is missing. It’s the one with Hugh and Roxie leading the way. Though this is strange.”

“Why?” Tristen asked.

“I’ve known Hugh for a little while at least.” Cheren said. “If he could help it, he’d make everyone move double time and be the first one here with everyone else. The guy is virtually no nonsense. I’m wondering if he got in trouble somewhere.”

“I’ll go look for them.” Tristen said. “Which way was he supposed to go from Virbank?”

Cheren takes off the headset altogether, sitting them down on the console then takes a map and rolls it out on a table. “This way. There’s an off-beaten path off from Route 20 here.” Cheren points towards a path off of Route 20, which seemed to be a bit rocky by what the map shows, but traversable. “With the landmines still a big question mark for the time being, we instructed all group leaders to take the scenic route out. Take to the beach, take to the woods, whatever they feel they know best. Going out into the waters and flee to Castelia, or even at least Liberty Island or Union Tower are a no-go at this time because of Flare perhaps taking over the entire gulf, if their takeover of the Virbank docks weren’t enough evidence of that. They were supposed to take to an arch and make it to Floccesy Town to rendezvous with Alder, but they’re apparently behind schedule and considering the time, I’m having my doubts it’s the terrain.”

“Got it. Dragonite!” Tristen rushed out the tent, meeting back with his Dragonite outside. “We got to search around Route 20, we got people missing!” The boy hopped back on his Dragonite’s back. The Dragonite kicked off the ground and took flight once again.

It was several minutes on the back of Dragonite, passing by over Floccesy Town once again then down into Route 20. The boy looked down towards the ground, trying to find some sort of sign of life. “Dragonite? See anything?” The boy asked as the dragon hovered high above the trees.

“Arro.” The dragon replied. No dice on his end.

“Dragonite, land over there. I think that’s part of the path that Cheren was talking about.” Tristen said.

The Dragonite landed only a mere moment later, allowing the boy to get off his back and onto the ground. Tristen took note to the woods, how eerily quiet it was; it was unnatural, it’s as if the wild Pokémon turned tail as well and ran for only the faint wind through the trees remained. Considering Zygarde was not far away from here not long ago, perhaps it was justified. “Where could they have all gone?” Tristen asked. Dragonite perked up, taking note to something and walked off. His heavy steps getting the attention of Tristen, where the boy looked back and stared in confusion. “What is it? Dragonite?”

“Arro.” The Dragonite replied. It leaned over and took a smell of something. “Arrrro.”

“You find something?” Tristen asked, walking over towards Dragonite. There was a tree that was blackened by the likes of fire. Not enough to set it completely, but as if it got torched somehow. “…what…on…” The boy started to walk about the tree to examine it more but then discovered something. The tree wasn’t the only thing that got torched. A nearby field apparently also had scorches along the ground, and even some embers, although live, were very small and very soon on the way to dying out. The boy also noticed there were splotches of sludge, though not as abundant as the burns. These didn’t look right. “A Pokémon battle?” The boy tried to play out what the battle could have been in his head, remembering Roxie was a Poison type trainer, though considering there wasn’t much Pokémon made sludge, the boy started to think that Roxie was blindsided perhaps. Whatever the case, she didn’t have much of an opportunity to attack for some reason hence why anything resembling her wasn’t present much. Furthermore, Flare did like their fire types, which would explain so many burns about, so…maybe she was outnumbered? Maybe both her and Hugh since he was a high-level trainer. They did have to escort, and by extension guard the refugees they were charged with. This didn’t bode well. “Oh no…” Tristen said, frustratingly and worryingly scratching his head, starting to instantly fear the worst out of this situation. The boy started to take a smell about, but he couldn’t get much out of anything resembling human scents due to scorched earth and wood masking the smell, and unlike his adoptive parents, it wasn’t like he could sense various pressures about in the air. The boy was at a loss as to what to do.

In the boy’s state of panic, he started to realize something. The embers were still here…and without much of anything to burn in the field other than perhaps grass which was hard press to catch on fire unless the wind picks up. “Wait…this…stuff…this is recent.”

“Arro?”

“Yeah.” Tristen said. “This battle happened just a very short bit before we got here. They couldn’t have gotten far, could they? Maybe…they’re still battling somewhere!”

“Arro.” The boy rushed over and got back up on Dragonite.

“Dragonite, get above the trees, but fly low and fly slow, I want to hear everything that I can.” The boy said. He knew that this was perhaps a gamble, but it was all he had to go on at the moment. The Dragonite once again kicked off the ground and took to the air and done as commanded. The dragon stayed above the highest tree in the area, and flew slow, just enough to stay in the air so the wind rushing towards them wouldn’t be loud. Tristen closed his eyes and listened close, trying to drown out anything else. Fortunately, no drowning out was required.

From close by, a loud explosion rocked the silence and smoke started to rise above the trees. “Dragonite! There!” The boy shouted. Dragonite darted off towards the source of the explosion, ready to be the calvary. It was only a few seconds, the boy noticing on the approach there were several Flare members in their tacky suits, people running, and only one person battling for the refugee group. The man wore all red and hair…that looked like Tristen had his way with. There was one other trainer with Pokemon out, a woman with a guitar strapped to her back, accompanied by a Muk, watching the battle unfold, occasionally swatting away the occasional Fire Pokemon that rushed for them. It seemed that she was playing defense, trying to guard the refugees.

“There they are! Go, Go, Go!” Tristen shouted. The two went on a dive bomb towards the battle and once they got close for certain… “Dragonite! Hurricane!”

“ARRROO!” The Dragonite stopped and unleashed a mighty gale upon the battlefield, everyone looked up as if Deerling caught in car headlights. The Hurricane rushed down and rushed the Flares, snatching them up and blew a few of them away with their Pokemon, disbanding them for the time being. After the attack was over, Dragonite hovered down and Tristen dropped off the back of Dragonite. The man in red, accompanied by a Flygon, though it looked like it was heavily worn out and had a couple of burns about it. Even a Dragon can only take so much fire.

“Thanks.” The man spoke. “…I honestly don’t like people seeing me like this, but I guess I’ll suck up my pride. I don’t know if Flygon could have took much more.” The Flygon made a droll hiss, concurring with his trainer.

“Are you Hugh?” Tristen asked.

“Yes?”

Tristen took out his SNAG. “I came to look for you when Cheren found out you and Roxie were late.”

“You’re a-“

“SNAGEM!?” One of the Flare grunts shouted out. “They’re over here too!” This raised a rally of disdain amongst the Flare members trying to recompose themselves after being bowled over by Tristen’s Dragonite. This was actually good news. It told him Flare was being ousted everywhere they’re encountered, and this place was not going to be any different.

“I take it you’re here to help then.” Hugh said. “You mind?”

“Yea.” Tristen said.

“HUGH!” The female from the back shouted.
“Roxie! Get them out of here! We got this handled! Go! Go!” Quickly, Hugh recalled the Flygon after the harsh battle it went through and took out another Pokemon. “Samurott!” Hugh then shouted. As it came out of the ball, Tristen recognized the Pokemon from the SNAG’s Pokedex and suddenly an idea hit the boy.

“I got an idea. Dragonite, come back for now!” Tristen said, recalling the mighty dragon.

“Uh…we kinda…needed him…” Hugh said, wondering what Tristen had in mind.

“I got something just as good right now. Especially against these guys. Castform!” Tristen shouted, tossing out a second Pokeball out for battle, revealing the tiny cloud Pokemon. The tiny Pokemon squealed out rather happily and got ready for battle.

“GET THEM!” The grunts shouted.

Various Pyroar hopped up to the front of the line, one of which a male Pyroar that seemed to be leading the charge. Tristen realized the reason why Hugh had such a hard time; these things were attacking in a pride formation, it seemed like. Or something resembling it. It made things all the better for the kid. The lions started making the hard dash towards Hugh, Tristen, and their respective Pokemon.

“Castform! Rain Dance!” Tristen shouted. The Castform shrilled out and shot what seemed like an energy ball straight into the sky, which made the skies cloud up and darken, and then subsequently thunder started to boom and rains started to fall upon the battlefield. And as if almost from an anime, the Castform twirled about as the rains came down on its grey head, and in a flash, it was encased in a water drop.

“Yea, you’re right, just as good.” Hugh said. “Samurott! Surf!”

The Samurott roared furiously as a mighty wave formed right behind it and towered over the opposition. The lions skidded to a stop and attempted to make a hard about face on the rain-soaked grounds, but the wave caught up to them and washing them all out. Causing catastrophic damage to the each of them.

“NO!” One of the flare grunts shouted.

“NOT COOL!” Another shouted.

“YOU’LL PAY FOR THIS! PYROAR! HYPER VOICE!”

“YOU TOO!”

“GO FOR IT!”

The Pyroar managed to collect themselves and retaliate, roaring out furiously, their collective roars bore a rut in the softened ground. Hugh and Tristen grasped the sides of their head as their Pokemon roared and shrieked out in pain from the attack that bombarded them in unison.

“Oh forget this! Samurott! Revenge!” Hugh shouted. The Samurott trudged forward then rushed full speed ahead, rushing for its target. The leader of the pack. The Samurott smashed right into him, causing immense damage to the beast. It hits the ground, sliding in the mud a good ways…and it wasn’t getting up. The leader had fallen.

“Castform! Thunder!” The boy shouted.

In an infuriated shriek, the Castform’s watery body lights up and sparks started to fly from it. Before one of the lionesses knew it, it fell victim from a bolt summoned from the sky with no chance to avoid it.

“Oooooo…” Hugh even had to wince at that one. “Yeah, if you want your Pokemon spared, now’s the time to leave.” Hugh told the remaining Flare Grunts. “I will warn you though: take it. I’m not one to give mercy for idiots, otherwise.”

“…just like Blizz…” Tristen said.

“Who?” Hugh asked, staring at Tristen in confusion catching what the boy just said.

“Nothin’.” The boy quickly replied back, scratching the side of his face some.

“Whatever…” Hugh looked back towards the grunts. “You lost ground all over the place in this neck of the woods and its turning out the same here. In what shape is up to you, though.”

The Flare grunts were at a loss; they didn’t expect the Snagems out this way here, but then something occurred to one of them, one whispered in the ear of another, something Tristen couldn’t hear over the torrential rains that his Castform summoned. After a couple of seconds, the Flares recalled their two fallen Pyroars, as the other three retreated back while they still could. The Flares ran. “…I…didn’t think they’d actually do it.” Hugh said.

“I don’t think that this is over.” Tristen said. “I got the feeling my friends are going to have a hard time later over here.”

“How so? You guys seem capable enough.”

“Yea, but we’re all over the place right now trying to help you people.”

“…you’re worried about spreading too thin. Huh, didn’t think a kid like you could think up something like that.” This got a rather nasty glare out of Tristen. “What?”

The boy gave a hard sigh. “Nothin’. Just…nothin’…” The boy walked off in hunt for the refugees, with a confused Hugh right behind him.

It would be not long before Hugh and Tristen would be joined back up with Roxie and the rest of the refugees and as a just in case precaution, Tristen escorted the bunch all the way back to Floccesy Town, where Alder could finally take up the escort. Tristen would finally accomplish his task, giving the information to the radio signal to Hugh, and subsequently to Roxie. They all tuned into Reno’s signal and after a few minutes for the each of them, finally made contact and everyone was in contact with each other. With these few, it was certain they would spread the word out to others under them and further solidify a communication grid and expand it as need be. With his mission accomplished, Tristen would release his Xatu one final time and be transported back to Snagem HQ.