“You’re not much of a talker, are you?” Porygon2 asked as Lucas made his way towards the Pastoria Gym, the swampy mess on his pants and in his shoes drying a bit under the sunlight, leaving him generally dirty and more damp than he’d like to be rather than dripping with every step.

  Lucas gave the Pokemon, still in his Pokedex at the moment, a wary look. Was Porygon2 really trying to strike up conversation? He never really considered that being a possibility… Sure, Rotom had talked plenty while using N’s phone speakers, and Mimikyu could write stuff to him, but they weren’t his Pokemon. Mimikyu was always with N, and Rotom… well, Rotom did whatever Rotom wanted to do.

  He cringed a bit as he remembered the state that Rotom was in at the moment.

  “That was rude of me, wasn’t it? My bad, don’t feel like you need to for my sake or anything.”

  …did Porygon2 think Lucas was cringing at what he said? Part of Lucas wanted to correct that, but…

  “Apologies if I’m talking too much. The Upgrade you gave me has altered my perception of the world by a significant degree, and I’m still working to figure out how to adjust. The variables for Nature and Characteristics have always been part of my code, but before my evolution they weren’t exactly called upon often.”

  Lucas had no idea what he was talking about.

  He wasn’t going to ask, either, but even if had wanted to, now wasn’t the time for it with how he could hear someone running up behind him.

  His hand went to his Pokeballs. Had that Galactic grunt decided to stop waiting around? Maybe the grunt had recognized Lucas because some of the other losers in their organization had described him when they had to explain how he wiped the floor with them?

  Instead, when he turned around he saw a head of blonde hair as Barry skidded to a halt, struggling not to run straight into him.

  “Whoops! Hehehe! I’m not always going to plow into you every time we meet! So how’s it going Lucas?”

  “Am I correct in assuming that implies he has plowed into you every other time you’ve met?” Porygon2 asked.

  Barry gasped. “Is your Pokedex talking?! That’s so-!” He stomped a foot down. “Totally uncool! My Pokedex doesn’t talk to me! I’m fining you a billion dollars for that!”

  “That seems entirely unreasonable, both in the monetary value and the fact that you’re fining him at all.”

  Barry scoffed. “How am I supposed to get him to stop holding out on me if I don’t give him a reason to?! Ugh, whatever! If you’ve got fancy stuff like that, then you must really be buffing up your Pokemon, eh? I’ll test you and your Pokemon out to see how buff and tough you are!”

  Lucas wasn’t sure what Porygon2 had to do with the rest of his team, but Barry pulling out a Pokeball made it clear what came next.

  Barry had started with his Staravia last time, and he’d never really been one to put much thought into things. That Intimidate had caused problems last time, so his best bet would probably be…

  There were two flashes of red light, and Bibarel shivered under Staravia’s harsh glare.

  “Bibarel? I thought for sure that you would lead with your Torterra…” Barry grumbled as his Staravia took off into the air.

  Clap, peace sign, snap, clap.

  Bibarel watched his movements out of the corner of her eye, firing off a Water Gun before Barry could react to the order at all. The jet of pressurized water was powerful enough to interrupt Staravia’s flight for a moment, soaking his feathers and sending the Flying type into a freefall for a moment before he managed to get control of himself, wings flaring out just soon enough to prevent landing beak first on the ground.

  “Ravia!” Barry’s Pokemon glared even harder at Bibarel, but it didn’t seem to have an effect now that Bibarel had grown used to it.

  Barry stomped his foot. “Hey! Who do you think you are, starting the match so quickly?! I’ll fine you a billion for that!”

  Bibarel answered with another jet of Water Gun.

  This time, however, Barry was ready for it. “Quick Attack to get out of the way, and then use Double Team!”

  Staravia was overtaken by a white glow, just managing to evade the Water Gun, and then suddenly there were twenty different Flying types circling around Bibarel.

  Lucas eyed them warily. He knew that there was still only a single Staravia, but the illusion of so many, all of them moving around, certainly made aiming Bibarel’s attacks more difficult. Attacking randomly would only serve to create more openings for Barry, so their best bet was probably….

  Clap, OK symbol, snap, snap, clap.

  Bibarel curled in on herself, her tail covering her face as a faint white shine was emitted from her fur.

  Barry frowned. “You think you can win just by tanking hits? What have I told you! Taking hits means you lose, whether it takes one or a billion! Wing Attack!”

  Twenty wings lit up with a soft blue glow. Twenty Staravia swooped down, screeching as they went.

  Bibarel wouldn’t be able to see his hands from this position, but Lucas had faith that she’d at least be able to hear them well enough to follow through as he clapped and snapped and clapped some more right up until the last second, the Wing Attack hitting her hard enough that the thwack echoed out across Pastoria.

  Staravia screeched in pain.

  Lucas had no doubt that even with the increased defense, Bibarel would be sporting a nasty lump where she took that attack. But the instant counter with a Hyper Fang on Staravia’s wing as the one real attack revealed his location would leave him crippled.

  Staravia tried to fly away, but only managed to pluck more feathers out of his wing as Bibarel refused to let go. He hopped and hobbled, trying to create some distance, clearly in distress as a bloody mess of feathers hung limply at his side.

  Bibarel spat out the mess in her mouth, and without needing his prompting, spat another Water Gun at Staravia.

  Staravia spluttered under the deluge, and Barry held up his pokeball, prompting Bibarel to cut off the attack so he could be returned.

  Which meant she didn’t see it coming.

  To be fair, neither did Lucas until it was too late. A Quick Attack closed the distance, even with the broken wing, and with a harsh white glow Bibarel was crying out in pain as well, just managing to Headbutt Staravia into submission.

  Barry recalled Staravia, but Bibarel was left a mess. Wounds that hadn’t been there just a moment ago suddenly opened up, blood oozing from all over her fur and making her coat look more rusty reddish than it’s normal brown.

  “Well that’s just unsporting, isn’t it?” Porygon2 broke Lucas out of his daze as he tried to comprehend what had just happened.

  “It was perfectly legal!” Barry instantly defended. “It’s not over until your Pokemon is recalled! It’s not my fault that you weren’t prepared for Endeavor!”

  Lucas scowled at the blond.

  Barry paid it no heed, sending out his next Pokemon with a smirk on his face. “Monferno, Mach Punch!”

  It seemed like the Fire type hadn’t even fully materialized before he was hurling himself towards Bibarel, and the impact sent her tumbling tail over head into a tree across from the gym.

  “If you want to start before I’m ready, then we’ll do the same to you!” Barry taunted him.

  Begrudgingly, Lucas nodded. It sucked to have Bibarel taken out like that, but compared to what Barry had shown him in the past… he had to respect this a little bit.

  Monferno was a problem, though. Fire and Fighting… With a type combo like that, the entirety of his team was weak to the Pokemon.

  He’d have to be cautious, but he was pretty sure that Torterra could handle it anyway. Type effectiveness wasn’t everything, and Torterra was a step up in terms of evolution. Really, it was more of a neutral matchup anyway. Torterra was weak to Fire, but Monferno was weak to Ground.

  His starter appeared in a flash, stomping on the ground with all of his weight.

  Barry wasn’t smirking quite so much anymore. “Sending your starter against mine? You might have beaten me back in our first match, but that type matchup is going to get you sooner or later!”

  Lucas responded with a clap, point towards his feet, snap, clap.

  The ground rumbled, jagged pieces of it breaking apart and jutting up as an Earthquake was unleashed.

  To his and Torterra’s surprise, however, Monferno didn’t cry out in pain. Instead, it seemed to have leapt into the air before the attack could really start doing damage, and was now coming back down, flinging itself forward in a Flame Wheel that was set on a collision course with Torterra.

  Barry laughed. “You thought we didn’t come up with a counter to your ace?! I’ll fine you for underestimating me!”

  Torterra took defensive measures on his own, a thin coating of water coating him as he used Withdraw.

  It might have lessened the damage, but it wasn’t enough. Monferno landed on his back, quickly charring the grass and moss and leaves growing there. Torterra grunted out in pain, trying to shake Monferno off, but as the Fire type ended the Flame Charge it grabbed onto his tree and refused to let go, easily enduring the shaking and staying on Torterra’s back.

  Lucas bit his lip.

  Barry laughed. “Not so big and tough when you can’t reach us, are you? The key to winning is to not get hit!”

  Torterra stomped and shook some more, but Monferno responded by unleashing an explosion of flames.

  “Did you know you can get Fire Blast from the Veilstone Department store?” Barry gloated. “It cost me 5500 dollars, but it was worth every last one for the look on your face right now!”

  Lucas’ lip started to bleed as he watched Torterra’s back dry out and start to bake under the heat, cracks forming as all the moisture left it.

  What could he do? If they couldn’t reach Monferno, then…

  Clap, left three, snap, clap, snap, clap, clap, left three, snap, clap, clap, clap–

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Lucas started giving out order after order, not stopping for a moment in the hopes that Torterra could make it out of this situation.

  A green glow overtook Torterra’s body, and Lucas watched as charred leaves began to fall, replaced by fresh and lively ones, Synthesis working to replenish his starter’s health.

  Large, slightly blackened seeds fell out of the charred leaves on Torterra’s tree, landing in a heap around Monferno and quickly growing into a mess of vines around him, instantly sapping away at his health and working to restore Torterra further.

  Water from a Withdraw helped to moisten the soil once more, not doing much to help the cracks themselves but dampening it and preventing things from getting worse.

  Only for Monferno to use Fire Blast again, undoing all of that effort in an instant.

  Torterra cried out in pain as the Fighting type capitalized on the moment of weakness, making the cracks in his shell even bigger with an attempt to use Fury Swipes as a substitute for Dig.

  Lucas’ eyes narrowed as he noticed something, though.

  Monferno was panting, the flame on his tail a bit less intense than before, despite the fact that it hadn’t taken a real hit.

  Those Fire Blasts must take more out of it than Barry thought…

  He started up his claps and snaps again.

  Leaves were replenished, Leech Seed sapped at Monferno’s health just a bit, and the soil was watered once more.

  Fire Blast.

  Again.

  Again.

  Torterra was a real mess by the end of the exchange, his back a mix of burns so deep and intense that it was hard to tell what was burned parts of him and what was just ash waiting to be scraped off. His tree was a blackened mess on one side, but Leech Seeds were still managing to drop from it when commanded, so it couldn’t be completely dead.

  More importantly, though, Monferno looked to be on the verge of collapse, barely able to support himself.

  “Not a bad strategy,” Porygon2 chimed in quietly. “A move like Fire Blast really eats away at a Pokemon’s Source. With how expensive Power Point Ups can be, it’s unlikely that your opponent thought to expand that well of power with artificial means…”

  This time, Monferno wasn’t able to hold on when Torterra shook him off.

  The Fire type managed to pick himself up from where he fell, standing up to face Torterra…

  But his Grass type wasn’t having any more of this. An Earthquake crashed down, and Monferno crumpled as chunks of dirt, some of it baked much like Torterra’s back, smashed into him.

  Barry returned Monferno with a flash of red light, staring at the pokeball for a moment, before stomping on the ground.

  “Darn it! I thought for sure that would work! That lady who sold it to me lied! She said it would take out a Grass type for sure! I should sue her for a bill- no, for a trillion dollars!”

  Lucas sighed, glad that the strongest threat on Barry’s team had been taken out. There was no guarantee that he’d win, but his chances felt a lot better now. Who would Barry send out next, though? His Buizel? His Roselia? He didn’t think either of them would have super effective moves to take out his remaining Pokemon, but if Barry had been buying TMs…

  “OOOOIIII!!!!!”

  Lucas jumped as a booming voice rang out from behind him.

  “WHAT’S ALL THE RUCKUS OUT HERE?! WHY IS MY GYM SHAKING WHEN I DON’T EVEN HAVE A BATTLE GOING ON?!”

  Stomping out of the gym was Crasher Wake.

  He heard Barry squeak. “Oh! Uh, looks like you’ve gotten stronger! Guess-I-lost-‘cause-I-got-careless,-huh? DidImentionCrasherWakebeingmymaster?” Every word came out faster than the last until Lucas could barely comprehend what his opponent was saying. “Haveyouheardmynewthemesong?! RUNNINGFROMTROUBLEIT’SBARRY-”

  “BARRY?!” Crasher Wake interrupted him. “IT WAS YOU?! WHEN YOUR FATHER FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS I SWEAR-”

  ‘GOTTA GO, BYE!” Barry ran off as quickly as he had arrived.

  “DON’T YOU RUN AWAY WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU! I KICKED YOUR OLD MAN’S BUTT, AND I’LL KICK YOURS, TOO!”

  Lucas blinked.

  His opponent had run off mid battle, maybe conceding?

  The Gym Leader he’d come to fight had run away.

  Two of his Pokemon desperately needed a visit to the Pokemon Center.

  “On second thought,” Porygon2 chimed in, “perhaps just outside the Pastoria Gym was a poor choice in battle ground. How inconsiderate of us.”

  Lucas returned Torterra and sighed.

  Mawile was not in a good mood.

  Nurse Joy and Chansey had helped a lot, and those sitrus berries had been tasty, but she’d still gotten the inside of her mouth all burnt up! That hadn’t been fun at all!

  Stupid jerk Rotom…

  She made sure to glare at the stupid Ghost extra hard as they waited for N to come pick them up, but Rotom mostly just ignored her.

  Mean!

  “Your trainer is here to retrieve the two of you!” Chansey informed them as she waddled in from the front desk.

  “N is not my trainer…” Rotom muttered.

  Chansey tilted her head… or, well, more like her whole body, but Mawile understood the intention. “Well, you don’t have to go back with him if he isn’t, but he is here to get you.”

  Mawile huffed. “Come on, you big, stupid, meanie.”

  Rotom didn’t respond to that, but the Electric type did follow after her as she led the way.

  At the front desk, Nurse Joy was speaking to N. “–fully recovered physically, but their moods are– oh! There you two are! Ready to leave?”

  “Yep!”

  She made N scribble on some paper thing, and then the three of them were making their way to their room for the night.

  “Mimikyu isn’t with you?” Mawile idly asked.

  Rotom gave N a curious look as well, and N ran the palm of his hand over his face. “I only stepped out to grab you two. We aren’t attached at the hip or anything…”

  Mawile suppressed a giggle. They totally were. They were always together!

  It only took a moment to reach their room. The Shadow weirdos were back, but Lucas was gone.

  “–and I’m tellin’ ya, there’s no fixin’ a motherboard that’s snapped in half. Ya can’t fix it.”

  Mimikyu and Marowak were staring at something as her fellow Fairy talked, but Marowak ignored whatever Mimikyu was trying to explain as soon as they walked in the door. “Are you okay?!” He called out as he ran over to her.

  Mawile giggled. It was like having a little brother! Probably. She’d never actually had one, but she’d been told it was like this!

  “I’m okay!” She showed off the inside of her mouth to prove it. “Still kind of tastes… zappy, but it doesn’t hurt anymore!”

  Marowak sagged with relief. “That’s good… but you shouldn’t have done that!” He whacked her on the head with his bone.

  “Ow!” she rubbed at it, Fake Tears in her eyes. “Are you trying to send me back to Nurse Joy?”

  He glared at her. “No, if I was it would have been on fire. That was for being dumb and getting hurt! Even if it was for a good reason…”

  Awwwww, he was just worried about her! Cute! “Heh. Don’t worry about it, I was fine! Besides, you saved me, didn’t you?”

  Marowak looked at his hands, flexing them. “I think? I don’t know, I’ve never done that before…”

  “Where are Lucas and the Porygon?”

  Mawile frowned as her conversation with Marowak was overpowered by Rotom’s commanding tone.

  “Did you really think I’d let you interact with them so quickly after your little blow up? You have some explaining to do, Rotom.” N stated as he leaned against a wall of the room.

  “If it calms ya down any, ya should know that I fixed the Porygon problem.”

  Rotom gave Mimikyu a strange look. “You fixed it? Rotom must admit, Rotom did not see that coming. Rotom assumed a Pokemon travelling with N for so long would not have it in them to delete Porygon.”

  “I didn’ kill it, I said I fixed it. Lucas ‘ad an Upgrade in ‘is little collection of junk, ‘n’ so I used it on Porygon. Switching the OS to a new one solves the problem.”

  Rotom gave Mimikyu a flat look. “In what world does upgrading the operating system delete malware?”

  “This isn’ some simple patch for a bug or two, Porygon2 is leagues above a simple Porygon. I can’t say I’ve gone through all the code or anythin’ of the sort, but yer gonna ‘ave a real hard time convincin’ me that malware written for a Porygon’s code is gonna be effective for a Porygon2. I can see it bein’ infected with a new piece of malware that’s specifically catered to it, but differen’ OS ‘ave differen’ vulnerabilities.”

  “Porygon2 are fully functional artificial intelligence. If you give one a piece of code meant for a Porygon, they’re fully capable of modifying it to run successfully on themselves.”

  “Capable of ‘n’ will are two diff’ren’ things, ain’ they?”

  “Do you have any idea what they’re talking about?” Mawile whispered.

  “No,” Marowak whispered back. “Mimikyu seems to know stuff about-” he paused, “...about these human things though…”

  Mawile narrowed her eyes. That pause was suspicious.

  Rotom let out an electronic growl. “Rotom supposes that whether they modify and execute that code without prompting would depend on the personality variables assigned to the specific Porygon, but to Rotom it is sounding like you have a very basic understanding of technology, yet an overinflated sense of your understanding!”

  Mimikyu scoffed. “Don’ you start callin’ Dunning-Kruger on me, I know I ain’ no genius, but I do know enough ta call ya on yer bullshit.”

  “And you’re going to call Rotom out by using made up words? Very impressive.”

  “...damn, ya don’ ‘ave the Dunning-Kruger study ‘ere… would ya know it by a diff’ren’ name…?”

  “Nobody else here has any idea of what you two are talking about,” N interrupted. “Can we save the Porygon discussions for later? I believe there’s something of greater importance that takes priority.”

  “What could possibly be more important?” Rotom demanded.

  “I would suggest that you possess the television.”

  Marowak jumped in place, and Mawile tensed as the shadows around the Shadows merged into something more solid. It was a rare thing, hearing Banette speak.

  Rotom turned on the fellow Ghost type warily. “And why would Rotom do that?”

  “Because based on our second hand knowledge, we strongly suspect that despite your constant accusations of Porygon working for Galactic, you know far too much about them to not be incredibly suspicious yourself. Talk of destroying the universe has everyone a bit on edge. The Shadows will want to hear what you say about Galactic and your… innocence in all of this, and that is easiest done with your possession of the television since Lord N’s phone is broken.”

  Mawile shuddered under his gaze at that remark…

  There was a tense stand off for a moment.

  “...please, Rotom? I’d really rather we all be able to talk this out,” N pleaded.

  There was a buzz of electricity, and then the television turned orange and started to glow as Rotom possessed it.

  “Thank you,” one of the Shadows spoke up for the first time since Mawile had entered the room. “Let’s get the big question out of the way first, shall we? Do you now, or have you ever worked for Team Galactic?”

  There was a crackle from the television speakers that sounded sort of like a tired sigh.

  “No. Rotom has never worked for the organization known as Team Galactic.”

  N sagged a bit, but Mawile wasn’t sure why. They still hadn’t explained what this Galactic thing was to her!

  “I’m sensin’ a but ‘ere.” Mimikyu prompted.

  There was a pause.

  “...but… Rotom got a bit too wordy while Rotom was worked up… Rotom might as well at this point…

  Rotom was involved before they were Team Galactic. Before they had a name at all. That’s why Rotom knows what their plan is. Why Rotom has been keeping an eye on them all this time. Why Rotom knows they have to be stopped.

  As far as Rotom knows… Rotom was their leader’s first Pokemon.

  And that’s why this is all Rotom’s fault.”

  Barry has a very one track mind. “If I teach Monferno Fire Blast, he’s sure to beat Lucas’ Torterra! I just need to hit him over and over! Hitting and evading, that’s where it’s at!” If only he was patient enough to consider other possibilities, like perhaps using Taunt to stop the loop of status moves…. Oh well! There’s always the next battle!

  Also, I’m aware some of you are ESL and put my stuff through a translator, in which case Barry’s exit may have sucked. Here it is in an easily understood format:

  Guess I lost ‘cause I got careless, huh? Did I mention Crasher Wake being my master?

  Have you heard my new theme song?! RUNNING FROM TROUBLE IT’S BARRY-

  I hope everyone is enjoying the Lucas time. Pastoria is a very Lucas focused location in my notes.

  As always, feedback is appreciated. (If you’re actually looking for a response, discord is the place to be)