The Type Specialist

I really enjoyed traveling from Lilycove to Fortree. The journey was filled with peaceful walking and a lot of time just relaxing and training with our Pokémon.

Early on, we stopped at the Safari Zone just outside of Lilycove. It was essentially an enormous preserve specifically maintained to provide a living space for Pokémon not native to Hoenn, and was established before the Aether Foundation’s biodiversity projects. Most of its areas were off-limits, but there were some safe areas set aside for people to explore, and other areas set up to allow trainers to catch the Pokémon within them.

If I wanted to, I could have paid a small fee to gain access to Safari Balls, the only Pokéballs allowed to be used here, if I wanted to catch any Safari Zone Pokémon. However, I didn’t bother. None of the species really caught my attention, and while I could have caught the Fairy Type Snubbull, I decided to focus on preparing my current team for my final Gym Battle and the upcoming Conference instead.

Wally and I ended up camping in the Safari Zone overnight, and moved on afterwards.

The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, as the only significant event was when a pair of Kecleon kept trying to steal our food. We struggled to see through their Color Change, but Ponyta ended up being our savior as he could detect them with his mind. They got scared off after they realized their camouflage didn’t work, and didn’t bother us afterwards.

Wally spent a lot of time with Flygon. Not that he was neglecting his other Pokémon, but just to make sure Flygon was both included and knew its place on his team. Following my advice, he had been approved to access the Dragon Type forums on the Pokénet (which I still couldn’t do, despite having a Dragon Type, Altaria, on my team), and figured out what exactly he had been doing wrong.

First off, Dragons responded to strength. Back towards the end of our stay in Mossdeep and during the few days we spent in Lilycove, he had Gallade fight Flygon almost daily. Flygon had spent the past few months essentially just leeching food off of him, but Gallade had spent that time training. Their battles had started with losses from Gallade, but as Gallade grew familiar with Flygon’s basic strategies, it quickly shifted to frequent ties, and then constant wins for Gallade. Seeing how it had fallen behind so much motivated Flygon to be much more active in Wally’s training sessions.

Additionally, Dragons appreciated respect. They respected the strong, but also wanted to be respected themselves. Wally had unintentionally messed this up when he first caught Flygon, as he treated it too informally at the start. He switched over to acting much more formal and polite to it, and the difference was night and day. Flygon also started to act more respectful towards Wally, and that combined with its presence in Wally’s training sessions meant he was finally able to slowly build more camaraderie with it. It still wasn’t completely following Wally’s orders, but Wally felt as though Flygon would allow more informal interactions soon in the future.

Currently, the issue with Flygon was that as a Dragon, it preferred brute strength. It tended to battle its foes directly, getting into the fray or firing attacks from a distance without paying much mind to other strategies. Wally’s battle style didn’t fully support pure offense, and he was still trying to get Flygon to go along with more of his plans. While its current out-of-battle behavior was a massive improvement, it still tended to ignore Wally’s orders, and attacked whenever it saw an opening.

It didn’t happen as often, but it still was a frequent occurrence.

What I appreciated about Wally’s Flygon was that now that it wasn’t lazing about as much, it was challenging more and more Pokémon to battles. My team was getting some good sparring in, thanks to that.

The very first Pokémon it challenged on our trip was Ninetales, whose double Type advantage and increase in power from the last time they had battled meant she easily won. She was overjoyed to have beaten Flygon so easily, and I made sure to groom her extra long that day as a reward.

After that one loss, it avoided challenging Ninetales again and focused on my other Pokémon. Mawile and Altaria were its primary targets, and those battles tended to be a lot closer. Mawile had it worse off since she had trouble avoiding its Flamethrower, but could lock it down whenever it got close. There was one point where it lifted itself back up into the air with Mawile still clamped on to its tail, causing it to fly around in panic, trying to get her off. It would have been funny if Mawile wasn’t so obviously terrified to fall. Altaria ended up catching her, and sparred with Flygon afterwards in her stead.

Altaria was a much harder challenge for Flygon, each Pokémon having a roughly equal chance to win. He had strong aerial maneuvers, and Cotton Guard let him withstand Flygon’s powerful attacks. The two Dragon Types frequently went into their Dragon Breath “jousts,” which slowly stopped being aggressive, and started to become more of a playful exchange, if burning their opponents with draconic energy counted as playful.

When we neared Fortree, Florges was more than annoyed at having to constantly heal injuries inflicted by Flygon. Wally’s Comfey helped, but even with that, Florges was still miffed. Azumarill hadn’t fought Flygon at that point, since as far as I could tell Azumarill considered Flygon to be too easy of an opponent to be worth fighting, and Flygon thought that Azumarill was too cutesy to be an actual threat. Florges convinced Azumarill to fight Flygon as a favor, and when their proposed battle started, I noticed that Azumarill had cheekily set up a Belly Drum before they had got into position, and Florges had healed her to hide it.

Flygon didn’t get to react before Azumarill rushed in and slammed it into the ground with her Aqua Jet into Play Rough combo. The infused Fairy Type energy of the boosted Play Rough dealt so much damage to Flygon that it fainted to that one move.

Flygon was so out of it after that “battle,” it spent the rest of the day in a daze. It constantly pestered Azumarill to fight it the next day, but she just brushed Flygon off, much to its annoyance and to Florges’s delight.

That battle had the added benefit of motivating Mawile to try even harder. Seeing Azumarill win so easily rekindled her drive to not be left behind by Azumarill.

Outside of traveling and the nonsense with Flygon, I spent a large amount of time on the forested routes between Lilycove and Fortree training new moves with my team. I could have had them develop their current abilities further, but decided that having more options in battle would be of greater benefit.

Since we weren’t in a town for this traveling period, I didn’t have access to a machine to teach everyone their TMs. Fortunately, I had already used the Pokémon Center PC to teach them a few of the moves back in Lilycove so they could practice along the way.

Mawile had the most to learn. I had bought her four TRs: Fire Fang, Ice Fang, Stone Edge, and Stealth Rock, but it would put too much pressure on her to learn them all at once. Considering the next Gym was a Flying Type Gym, I had her learn Stone Edge and Stealth Rock first. The Rock Type was a new Type she had to familiarize herself with, and she honestly struggled with them at first despite them being TM moves.

Stone Edge was Mawile’s first ranged attack, and she could barely aim the sharp rocks properly. When the move hit, it dealt massive damage, but the issue was that she had absolutely no practice with ranged moves, which meant it wasn’t that reliable. Stealth Rock, on the other hand, was a lot easier for her since she didn’t have to aim it. The stones didn’t track their target as accurately as they had when Lisia’s Corsola had used it, but with enough practice, Mawile would be able to improve it to be comparable.

Cottonee was in a similar situation to Mawile, in that he didn’t learn all of the TM moves I had bought him. He learned Encore and a second move, but the second move wasn’t the Substitute TR I had bought. Instead, I borrowed the TM from Wally to teach him Protect.

Protect was, in my opinion, a strange move. Almost every Pokémon could learn it, but at the same time, almost every Pokémon used it a different way. When it was boiled down to the basics, it used raw energy to completely protect its user from damage, but there were two different ways it worked. Protect either enhanced a specific body part, or it created a shield of energy around its user. Psychic Types and other special attackers tended to create that shield, and physical attackers tended to enhance their body instead.

While it prevented all damage, it wasn’t the perfect move. Pokémon needed to stay still to use Protect, and it required a large amount of energy to maintain, far more energy than healing moves in general. Because of that, Protect couldn’t be used too often without exhausting its user.

I wanted everyone to learn Protect eventually, but only Cottonee would learn it from a TM. His version of it created a short energy field around his body, as that was how that move tended to behave when taught from a TM. I specifically chose him to learn it because his ability, Prankster, would let him master it quickly and also let him easily tweak it to better fit how he fought. In the future, I would have him teach the basics of the move to the other members of my team, but for now, only Azumarill worked with him on Protect.

Since Azumarill had no other moves to learn, her time spent with Cottonee was the only time she spent working on a new move. She didn’t finish learning it within the time we spent traveling, but she did continue to train her body. Azumarill worked to make sure every one of her moves was in tip top shape, and even frequently used boulders and fallen trees as weights. I was starting to notice that ever since our stay in Dewford, she had trained more like a Fighting Type than anything else. It was definitely a quirk specific to her that reflected the way she liked to fight.

As for Ninetales, Florges, Altaria, and Ponyta, they ended up working together when they weren’t working on their TM moves.

Ponyta was the central figure of the group, practicing with Ninetales and Florges so he could learn new moves.

With Ninetales, they both tried to turn their familiarity with Psychic Type energy into an enhancement to their overall speed with Agility. Agility was a better move for speed enhancement over Ninetales’s Quick Attack, and for Ponyta, it would better synergize with his developing Run Away ability to let him maintain his distance in battle. Neither of them figured it out before we reached Fortree, but there were signs they would pick it up soon.

As for when Ponyta worked with Florges, Ponyta was attempting to learn his first Fairy Type move, and Florges was practicing her mastery over her own. Ponyta learned Fairy Wind, and actually managed to do so relatively quickly. It was interesting to see him use it, because he used a different method than Florges. Florges puffed it out of her flowers, but Ponyta channeled the energy into his mane, causing it to glow, and the breeze came out of his hair when he whipped it around. He was much slower at using Fairy Wind than Florges, as he could only use it as fast as he could shake his head.

Speaking of how fast moves could be used, Florges somehow managed to get Fairy Wind to be used even faster, and Moonblast was minorly improved as well. I wanted Florges to have a better mastery over her Fairy Type moves since Ali had dodged them so well back in Lilycove. Fighting agile, flying enemies was difficult for her, and I hoped these developments could help bridge that gap.

Altaria was the odd one out of the group of four, as he didn’t work with Ponyta. Instead, he worked with either Ninetales or Florges when they weren’t training with Ponyta or practicing their new moves. I had neglected his capability to learn Fairy Type moves for so long, and even though Dragon Type moves were already super effective against Dragon Types, it wouldn’t hurt for him to have more options.

With Florges, Altaira practiced Dazzling Gleam, and with Ninetales, Altaria practiced Moonblast. He was familiar with Fairy Type energy as he already knew Disarming Voice, so the basics came quickly to him. He struggled with Dazzling Gleam more than Moonblast, as firing the pink sphere of Moonblast was similar to Dragon Pulse, but I knew he would get it eventually. By the end of the trip, he had figured out Moonblast, but Dazzling Gleam was still a work in progress.

The entire group training between Ninetales, Florges, Altaria, and Ponyta almost brought a tear to my eye. Seeing them work together so well and teaching each other tips and tricks for learning Fairy Type moves was incredible, and this form of training was one of the reasons I became a Type Specialist in the first place. I loved how my Pokémon could help improve each other in battle, and enjoyed seeing how they ended up using the moves differently.

Of course, that group still had to practice their new TM moves as well. These four trained on a tight schedule, but since Wally and I were taking it slow, it wasn’t too much trouble to fit it all in.

Ninetales learned Dig, which she appreciated having as an option, but disliked using it as it got her fur dirty. I planned to save it for emergencies, especially since it could be a strong trump card to have her dodge an attack by digging underground.

Florges learned both Ally Switch, which would let her swap positions with an ally, and Sunny Day, to help her enhance both Solar Beam and Synthesis. Ally Switch was useful for Florges to learn since it familiarized her with Psychic Type energy and let her more easily heal her allies with Wish. The other move she learned, Sunny Day, was another plan I put in place to help Florges counter fliers. Solar Beam came out insanely fast under harsh sunlight, and instead of needing to cause a slow moving orb to follow her enemies, she could have the attack instantly hit them. I doubted her foes would be able to easily dodge a freakin laser beam.

Meanwhile, Altaria only learned Defog, and took to using it quickly thanks to his atmospheric control from Cloud Nine. There wasn’t much to say about the move, as I could hardly tell when he was using it sometimes, but I did notice the air around him tended to be more crisp and fresh after he learned it.

In the end, it took eleven days to reach Fortree. For a trip between cities, it could have been faster, but it was nice to take things slow.

Fortree City was small compared to the other cities in Hoenn, but it was definitely the most fantastical city I had ever seen.

The city was built into the trees, consisting of numerous tree houses connected to each other with rope bridges. However, the forest floor was modernized with stone roads and normal buildings built between their trunks. Apparently, the tree houses were people's houses, but the forest floor was where all of the businesses and modern amenities were. When Wally and I spent the night in a Pokémon Center, it was disappointedly located solely on the ground.

We spent a day exploring the city, and the next day we signed up for a class that taught trainers and their Pokémon how to better travel with flight. Wally participated with Flygon, and I participated with Altaria.

Us and the dozen other trainers in our class all had different types of equipment that helped humans be carried by or ride Pokémon. Wally had purchased a saddle for Flygon back in Mauville, and I had a ridiculous-looking basket with a handle on top that Altaria could grab to lift. The handle also had a set of stirrups attached to it that Altaria could slide his talons into, which then tightened to ensure he couldn’t drop it. Most trainers had saddles like Wally, but there was a second trainer with a similar basket for his Swellow, and another trainer who had to leave because he bought a harness to be carried on his Pokémon’s chest. That wasn’t an unusual piece of equipment, but it was a bad idea to use it with his Skarmory, as its metal feathers would have sliced into him.

The class was a simple lesson that mostly taught basic safety practices for both trainers and Pokémon, and provided advice for trainers that were struggling. Flygon was okay with Wally riding it, since it liked to do it to brag about its capabilities, but it wouldn’t listen to Wally for specific instructions. It was very independent in how it flew, and the instructor explained that unless Wally truly gained Flygon’s trust, he would be unlikely to be able to ride it casually outside of going to major destinations.

While going through an obstacle course was probably out of the question, Wally would probably be able to tell Flygon to take him back to Lilycove and Fortree with a bit more practice. It seemed his plan to return to Mossdeep on Flygon’s back was quickly becoming reality.

As for me, Altaria was easily able to lift the basket despite the difference in size, and we could travel around like a tiny, strange, cloud-shaped hot air balloon. I was nervous to be carried so high off the ground, but if I fell out, Altaria was fast enough to catch me before I hit the ground. He glided around above the canopy of Fortree, and I took in the view.

It was a beautiful sea of green, with the occasional spot of gray sticking out, and the stone Fortree Gym building and its battlefield stuck out above the rest. Trainers on their own flying Pokémon glided around me, and I could see others not part of the class off in the distance as well. It was a beautiful moment to experience for the first time, and I wasn’t bothered at all whenever Altaria squawked to get my attention and pointed out things he thought were interesting.

It was mostly just weirdly-shaped leaves.

While Altaria and I would never travel as fast as a trainer riding on the back of their Pokémon, it was still much faster than traveling over difficult terrain, and we could even fly to destinations in a straight line rather than following the curved path of a route. We would need to be wary of any other flying Dragons challenging Altaira, and hostile bird Pokémon, but known Dragon territories were always marked on publicly available maps, and Altaria could easily fight off most wild Pokémon.

(If Altaria ever did faint and I was in the air, Florges could be sent out to catch me. She wasn’t able to fly, but she could still slowly float back towards the ground.)

The class lasted for a total of four hours, and in the end, I was confident in being able to travel with Altaria like this in the future. While I would still probably stick to the ground, as it was fun to be able to have all of my Pokémon out around me, it would be a nice option to have whenever I was in a rush.

I think Wally got excited after flying around on Flygon, because the same day we participated in that class, he also challenged the Gym. While he was challenging it almost immediately after entering the city, his challenge wasn’t actually rushed. It had been over a month since Wally’s failed Mossdeep Gym Battle, and even longer since he earned his last Gym Badge. His team had improved massively in that time, and even though Flygon wasn’t a perfect listener, it was getting much better and wouldn’t completely ignore his orders like what happened in Mossdeep. I felt like he was also encouraged by the current date, December 29th, as the Gym closed on the final day of the year for a festival. He wanted to take it on before the end of the year to have the entirety of January to earn his eighth Gym Badge.

As Wally signed up to battle Winona, the Flying Type Gym Leader, I checked with the Gym Trainer at the reception to see what the Gym’s trial would be. We had already earned more than five badges each, so taking the trial wasn't possible, but I couldn’t help but to feel a bit jealous since it looked so fun.

This Gym's trial consisted of races between flying Pokémon that went through the entire city. Trainers were grouped by number of badges, and the top three of each race would pass the trial. If there were less than three trainers in the race, or if a trainer just didn’t want to compete in one, trainers could take on a time trial instead. I had initially thought this trial was unfair towards slower Pokémon, but the Gym Trainer explained the time to beat for the time trial was weighted by species. It was hard to beat it, but still possible for slow Pokémon of the appropriate strength.

As he had passed up beating Mossdeep Gym, this would be Wally’s seventh Gym Battle overall, so Winona would only be using five Pokémon. Even though I knew he wanted us to have secret strategies for the Ever Grande Conference, he still invited me to watch. While I would learn more about his team, I wanted to support my friend, and I could tell he wanted that support more than he wanted to hide his Pokémon’s capabilities.

The battlefield wasn't indoors, but took place on top of the Gym building, which was a tall, stone, ziggurat-like structure that rose above the trees. There weren’t stands like in other Gyms, but rather a collection of stone benches for people to sit on. They were more comfortable than I expected, and actually had indents in the seat to fit each person. I also saw a few people watching from Flying Types they rode on in the sky, which was probably why the Gym didn’t feel the need to have that many seats.

On the battlefield, the two trainer boxes weren't painted on the ground next to the field, but were actually metal platforms connected to tall metal structures that would lift the platforms up. Both platforms had metal railings on their sides to prevent the trainers from falling off.

When Wally entered his trainer platform, Winona was already standing on hers. She was wearing a thick, padded full-body outfit made out of light blue material, with a hood with wing decorations on the side. She had goggles on top of her head, but she didn’t bring them down. The two trainers locked eyes without needing to say anything, and he and Winona were lifted far off the ground as their platforms were lifted into the air.

The way Winona’s Gym Battle was structured was that the first match was a Sky Battle, where only Pokémon that could easily move around in the air were allowed, followed by the rest of the battle on the ground. If the challenger lost the Sky Battle, they lost the rest of the battle as well, and weren't allowed to continue the match. In exchange, Winona’s first Pokémon tended to be easy to defeat, and the true challenge was finding a Pokémon that could actually participate.

Wally had two options for what Pokémon could take part in the Sky Battle. He could send out Flygon, or he could send out Magneton, as it knew Magnet Rise. There were pros and cons of each one, but he seemed to already have a plan and sent out Flygon without a single thought.

Flygon appeared in the air, and Winona sent a Pokémon I didn’t expect, Pidgeot. As far as I could remember, Pidgeot wasn’t present in Hoenn, or was exceedingly rare. I couldn’t exactly remember which as my research had been focused on Fairy Types, not Flying Types.

The referee for this match was actually the instructor for our flying class earlier that day, and he had changed his shirt to an extremely light blue sweatshirt that signified him as the referee. With a quick overview of the rules (each trainer could switch out their Pokémon four times), the battle began.

Flygon started by creating a Sandstorm around it to mess with Pidgeot’s flight patterns and disrupt the bird’s vision, but Pidgeot’s Keen Eye let it easily track Flygon through the weather condition. I expected Wally to shout a new command at Flygon, but he merely furrowed his brow and said nothing, as if he expected that.

Pidgeot didn’t immediately attack, but its wings suddenly caught a powerful breeze that traveled along with it, increasing its speed. That effect was from Tailwind, a move that provided a constant, beneficial pushing force against the currently active Pokémon.

Flygon tried to move in a Dragon Claw, but Pidgeot flapped its wings and blew it back with Whirlwind. The Dragon Type got annoyed and tried to use a Flamethrower instead, but Pidgeot just dodged the flames with Agility and started to attack Flygon with blades of wind from Air Slash.

Flygon easily moved out of the way from the constant onslaught of attacks, but somehow the Pidgeot never let up and Flygon started to get nicked by the blades as Pidgeot’s aim adapted to Flygon’s flight patterns. Despite that, Wally still wasn’t giving any orders. I had no clue what he was doing, but he eventually yelled out to Flygon before it built up too many injuries.

“I told you your strategy wouldn’t work!” he yelled. “If you don’t listen to me, we’re going to lose again! Flygon, I know you’re strong, but if we want to win, we have to work together!”

I raised my eyebrows.

Really? He’s using this Gym Battle as a teaching moment?

Credit to him, Flygon huffed, annoyed, and moved back to get closer to Wally’s platform. The eyes of a nearby Xatu on the ground started to glow blue, and a dense Psychic shield appeared in front of Wally, protecting him from any stray attacks from Pidgeot.

I couldn’t hear what Wally was telling Flygon, but soon enough, Flygon flew off to move higher into the air, dodging two more Air Slashes in the process.

The sandstorm died down at this point, and Flygon didn’t bother to refresh it as it sailed above the arena. Pidgeot kept its distance and continued its barrage, only pausing momentarily to refresh its Tailwind. Once Flygon felt it was high enough, it looked down at Pidgeot and Screeched. A grating sound rang out of Flygon’s mouth, and Pidgeot was momentarily stunned by the noise.

Flygon moved in to get close, but rather than using the melee Dragon Claw, it used Flamethrower at close-range instead. Pidgeot was completely encompassed by the stream of fire, and due to that, sustained burns across its body. The burn condition meant it would experience severe pain as it fought, and would even eventually faint due to the exhaustion caused by constantly experiencing that pain.

Pidgeot used Whirlwind to push Flygon away from it, and Flygon went back to focusing on dodging Pidgeot’s Air Slashes, and unleashing the occasional ranged attack in retaliation.

Huh, this is a really interesting strategy. Wally essentially only told Flygon to inflict the burn condition on Pidgeot, and to stay at range. Rather than having Flygon get in close to deal a lot of damage quickly, he’s favoring slowly weakening Pidgeot over time with its burns.

Winona could tell that Wally’s strategy would result in Pidgeot’s loss, since as it got more exhausted its attacks would slowly weaken. She changed up her strategy, and had Pidgeot move in for an Aerial Ace.

Wally shouted out and, following his command, Flygon let Pidgeot hit it in the chest and grabbed the bird before it could escape. It proceeded to breathe a Dragon Breath right into its face, then finished it off with a Dragon Claw while it was recovering.

I cheered for Wally as he looked particularly smug, and Flygon looked emotionally defeated that Wally’s strategy had worked.

I smiled.

Maybe Flygon will finally realize that it’s worth listening to Wally.

After the platforms descended and the battle shifted to be closer to the ground, Wally struggled a bit more against Winona’s Pokémon. Pidgeot was meant to be easy, so Wally had to focus if he wanted to earn his seventh Gym Badge. Or, he would have needed to if his team wasn’t a bit overleveled.

Winona sent out an Altaria next, who tried to faint Flygon with Ice Beam, but after a few back-and-forths, Flygon fainted it with a Dragon Claw instead. Wally then returned the tired Flygon, and sent out Magneton who fainted two more Flying Types before fainting. When Winona sent out her final Pokemon, a Skarmory, Wally’s Gallade managed to take it out by outmaneuvering it with Teleport.

Wally was honestly a bit too strong for this Gym. Because he had taken extra time to train, his team was more than prepared to earn their seventh Gym Badge. Even more, due to the rules for the final three Gym Badges, he easily handled Winona’s seven star team. After all, he had already almost won his Mossdeep challenge a month prior if it wasn’t for Flygon not following his orders.

It was bittersweet seeing him win so easily. I was happy and proud of his improvements, but at the same time I knew that he would be returning to Mossdeep soon while I stayed in Fortree. We would be parting for the duration of the next month and reuniting at the Ever Grande Conference.

I met back up with Wally after the battle to congratulate him, and we went to one of the restaurants that allowed Pokémon in this city to celebrate. We ended up ordering so much food it turned into a miniature feast, with every Pokémon eating multiple helpings and Flygon consuming the most.

Seafloor Cavern wasn’t empty when Courtney and the rest of Team Magma finally found it. It seemed that the League had located their destination before they had, but their defenses had yet to be fully built. The submarine smashed through the Water Types surrounding the entrance, and once it had surfaced in the underground cavern, Courtney’s Mightyena eliminated those that remained with Thunder Fang.

It was unnecessary to personally intervene, but Courtney needed to remind everyone, including herself, of her strength. She could not afford to show fear during what would happen next.

The rest of Team Magma stayed behind while Courtney proceeded into the tunnel that led deeper into the cave alone. She told the rest of Team Magma to secure the escape route, but did not reveal the truth. If she failed, none of them would escape. Success was the only option they had left.

Weezing and Camerupt easily removed occasional aggressive wild Pokémon, and Courtney made her way towards the furthest point of Seafloor Cavern. As she approached, the air around her filled with a dense fog so thick it felt as if the very air was resisting her every move. The humidity made it difficult to breathe, and Courtney pulled out a gas mask to ensure she could continue. She returned both Camerupt and Weezing, then continued forward completely alone.

Despite the gas mask providing her fresh air, she could not help but to fear she would drown. It was illogical to feel that way, but her nerves always tended to spike during important operations, despite how hard she tried to ignore them.

She slowed her movements as the stone beneath her feet became smooth and the moisture threatened her balance. Her knuckles whitened under her gloves as she tightened her grip on the handle of the case she held. Courtney pressed on.

As the tunnel started to widen, Courtney’s mind flashed with memories of the horrific day the Red and Blue Orbs were used last.

A powerful presence.

A possessing force.

Blue runes appearing over the enemy’s body.

A boy’s Pikachu decorated in similar red runes.

Groudon and Kyogre, completely under the control of their wielders.

Courtney would not make the mistakes of the past. She had ensured her will was unshakeable, and would not solely rely on a single orb. By using the power of both the Red Orb and the Blue Orb, neither would be able to overpower the other to possess her. She would be fine.

The fog faded and Courtney heard the sounds of soft waves lapping against a shore. The vastness of the room she emerged into far surpassed her expectations, and she took off her gas mask to better look over the expansive underground lake. Stalactites decorated the ceiling and dripped with water, the droplets reflecting light coming from the patches of glowing moss on the walls. The shifting water below also reflected that light, and the entire cavern was lit with a kaleidoscope-like pattern, illuminating her surroundings. However, it was not the scenery that truly impressed her. It was the presence of the Legendary Pokémon in the center of it.

Kyogre was similarly sized to a juvenile Wailord, and slept just beneath the surface, creating a large, deep blue island in the center of the lake. The wet surface of its body glistened under the glow of the cave, and almost looked like it was made out of polished sapphire as a result. While its half-submerged position hid the rest of its body, images of its massive, fin-like hands and glowing red runes on its side flashed in her mind.

Courtney forced herself to not step back reflexively. Seeing Kyogre for a second time brought forward something primal in her brain, something that told her that if she would ever attempt to control such a beast herself, she would fail. It was nothing more than a remnant from humanity’s ancient past, and she closed her eyes to take a deep breath and calm down.

She briefly recalled the last time she saw Kyogre. It was when Leader Maxie was captured. A failure like that would never happen again.

Courtney kneeled down where she was standing, and set the case flat onto the ground. She flipped the two latches on its top and opened it up, revealing two solid glass spheres nestled within the padded interior.

Each of them were about as wide as her hand, and one was red, while the other was blue. Both colored orbs were translucent, and contained a barely noticeable flaw within their interior. The Red Orb’s flaw was shaped like the ancient symbol known as “Omega,” while the Blue Orb’s flaw was shaped like the ancient symbol known as “Alpha.”

As the two key artifacts were revealed to the world, they began to shine brilliantly, flooding half the chamber with red light, and the other half with blue light. The blinding colors persisted for just a few moments, before they suddenly dimmed and sent out a pulse of chilling energy.

The resting form of Kyogre shifted, and its red eyes snapped open. The water bent to its will and lifted it up above the surface, carrying it over to Courtney’s position with a towering Surf. She scrambled to grab the orbs, making sure to remove her gloves to touch them with her bare skin.

Her flesh met glass as soon as Kyogre was nearly on top of her. A searing sensation burned into her palms as her hands were laid on top of both orbs, forcing her to hold still to hide her pain. The Legendary Pokémon paused in its rush towards her, and stared down at her as if it was considering a bug that had caught its attention.

Courtney could feel the pressure of a raging storm just below the surface, and the fog in the room swirled violently around her. She showed no weakness and stood up, keeping the orbs firmly in her hands.

“Kyogre. You will follow my orders,” she commanded, taking extra caution to not halt in her speech, as she tended to do. “You will use your command over the sea to bring my compatriots and I to the surface, where you will demonstrate your power to the world.”

Kyogre made no movements of understanding, nor did it move to follow her demands. The heat in her palms grew, and she could not help but to wince as the pain intensified.

She did not miss how Kyogre revealed its sharp teeth, smirking at her.

The two figures faced off, one a Legendary Water Type Pokémon that could bend the ocean itself to its whim, and the other a lowly human that thought she could control the beast. Courtney’s heart began to pound as she realized her plan was not working, but did not close her eyes. If this was to be her death, she would stare it in the face.

Courtney suddenly snapped her head to look behind her. She had heard a whisper.

Another voice sounded off next to her other ear, and she immediately turned to face it, but no one was there.

The sounds of subtle whispering grew, and soon a cacophony of numerous words, many in languages she did not understand, screamed silently into her ears.

She closed her eyes from the pain the deafening noises were inflicting on her, causing her to forget about the separate pain in her hands. At the same time, she could make out a few phrases that were directed at her.

It’s been hard without him, hasn’t it?

Wouldn’t it be easy to let go?

You know Kyogre’s power.

Give in to it.

Fulfill your basest of desires.

Flood the world with its storm.

Courtney fell to her knees and pressed the back of her hands to her ears as Kyogre watched impassively. She refused to drop the orbs, and as they moved closer to her head, the noises only grew worse.

Courtney did not know how long she knelt on the floor. It felt as if she had spent an eternity under the poking and prodding of her psyche from whatever it was that was trying to control her. Her mind turned blank from pain, but found herself to be unable to do as the Orbs said. Her memories failed her, and she wondered why she was here, why she was holding these strange orbs, and even what her name was.

But then a new whisper, one of a familiar voice, spoke out above the others.

Is that what Leader Maxie would want?

With that, the voices ceased and Courtney stood up. She stood in blissful silence and stared Kyogre in the eyes as its smirk faded.

“You will do as I say,” she stated, speaking as if it was a universal truth that Kyogre would follow her orders.

The pain in her palms reduced briefly, before it suddenly spiked and grew in intensity tenfold. The horrible feeling left her hands, spreading up her arm, burning the lines of ancient runes into her skin. It was just like what she had witnessed in the past, but this was different.

The forming lines were not glowing red, nor were they glowing blue. Her flesh was not imbued with the energy of the two orbs, but rather seared black in a pattern reminiscent of what appeared on the bodies of Hoenn’s Legendary Pokémon.

Courtney watched as in her left hand, the Red Orb that she had thought would control Groudon sunk into her palm and disappeared into her body. She panicked that she would lose herself, but there was no change she could detect.

At the same time, the Blue Orb remained still in her right hand.

Courtney questioned why she was still able to hold it, why the Blue Orb had stayed in the open despite the Red Orb entering her body. She glanced up to look at Kyogre, and found herself taking an unconscious step back.

The red lines of its body were glowing brilliantly, and its red eyes had turned white and glazed over. She knew she had succeeded, but a new truth appeared in her mind, granted to her by the presence of both orbs.

She was not done yet.

Following the impulse gifted to her by the ancient artifacts, she tossed the Blue Orb forward into the wave. The water shot forward to grab it mid-air, as if it couldn’t stand being apart from it for any longer. The Blue Orb was sucked in, and its light glowed under the surface. Courtney watched it slowly move up the water towards Kyogre, and entered its body.

The water froze in place and the room was still.

That is, until Kyogre’s body lurched.

A pulse of energy left the Legendary’s body and the entire body of water was dyed a deep blue, as if someone had spilled ink into it. The color intensified and lit up the entire room as Kyogre also began to glow. Suddenly, a suction noise echoed around Kyogre as the color retreated back into its body. With every ounce of energy that entered it, Kyogre grew. Where once it was the same size as a juvenile Wailord, Kyogre was slowly becoming the size of a full grown adult, and soon even surpassed that.

The red runic patterns on Kyogre’s body shifted and expanded to create a new pattern that covered its entire form. They changed from being purely red to being of a yellow-tinged rainbow light that almost reminded Courtney of Mega Evolution.

The ceiling cracked and stalactites fell. Courtney saw a cluster of them plummet towards her position, but a sharp blade of water shot out and sliced them in two, causing them to fall on either side of her.

Courtney looked over to where Kyogre was undergoing its transformation, and displayed the most emotion on her face she had shown in a long time: she raised her eyebrows.

Whatever had happened to Kyogre left it pulsing with power, and its presence alone felt as if that would kill the average person. Despite feeling the lingering energy, Courtney was unaffected. One last whisper caressed her ear, and in that moment, she understood the true meaning of a single word.

Primal.

She held out her right hand, and opened her palm to face Kyogre.

“Guide me to the surface.”

The runes on her hand glowed white, and Kyogre roared. The pressure increased, snapped, and spread out, utterly destroying the stone that served as the ceiling of Seafloor Cavern. The destroyed stones collapsed and sealed off the tunnel behind her, and the rest were pushed away by Kyogre’s power. Despite the change, the water did not come crashing down.

Courtney glanced around the bubble that had once been the room containing the underwater lake. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the submarine that had been her home for the past while, and some stress was released. The rest of Team Magma had escaped.

With another command, Kyogre lowered a fin from where it was holding itself up with water, and she climbed onto its back. The ocean water parted for her, and the bubble reduced in size, filling the cavern back up with water, and soon Courtney was the only thing left dry. Kyogre moved its fins and with a single push, moved towards the surface.

Courtney was filled with relief.

Her plan had succeeded, and with Kyogre, Leader Maxie would be freed. The only issue now was taking the proper hostage.

Going over the options in her mind, she finally settled on the one she considered to be the most ironic. Humans had always looked to the stars, but perhaps she would show them what lurked in the depths below.

Holding her hand up to control Kyogre, she finally smiled and giggled in joy.

“Kyogre, I want to save Leader Maxie. Let’s go to Mossdeep. ♪”