We woke up at dawn, the noises of numerous Fighting Types outside of Hitmonchan’s cave starting to build as the Pokémon began to take advantage of every moment of daylight they had.

I had set up my sleeping bag in the cave the night before and let my Pokémon rest inside. Hitmonchan didn’t mind, but he did try to interact with Swablu since they had never met before. Swablu sat on my head and simply watched silently as Hitmonchan tried to communicate with him. After a few minutes, Hitmonchan just walked off, annoyed.

I packed up my things and returned my Pokémon, leaving only Azumarill and Mawile outside of their Pokéballs, like before. Even with her victory last night, Florges didn’t want to be out because now Fighting Types kept going up to her and trying to talk about her victory. As for Hitmonchan, I hadn’t caught him yet since he was acting like he wanted to stay out as long as possible before belonging to a trainer. Luckily, Fighting Types weren’t often territorial so he didn’t mind leaving. I think he was looking forward to meeting Laura and getting stronger after he was knocked out in the fight yesterday. I could tell that he and Laura would get along great with their preference for punching attacks.

The climb out of the crater went unmolested and we continued onwards to Verdanturf. Once we were a ways away, I let out the rest of my team to walk as the massive group of six Pokémon, me, and an egg traveled through the mountainous terrain to return to civilization.

I used this opportunity while we were walking to explain things I knew about Pokémon to both Hitmonchan and the egg. Hitmonchan was an adept listener, committing to memory all of the information he didn’t know as a wild Pokémon. The egg was, well, an egg, but I hoped it knew how excited everyone was to meet it.

At night when we camped, Hitmonchan challenged Azumarill to a few spars, recognizing her as the strongest physical fighter on my team, much to Mawile’s dismay. The spars went as well as expected, Hitmonchan impressively sometimes stayed conscious through a second Play Rough, but only when Azumarill decided to extend its suffering. He did get back up after each and every fight, so I wouldn’t say he wasn’t determined.

I was a bit worried that such a large group of Pokémon traveling with me would attract an aggressive wild Pokémon hoping to train or prove itself, but such an attack never came. Our trip to Verdanturf took the same three days it took as before, and we had just entered the flower fields around the town when I stopped to talk to Hitmonchan about Laura. As generic as it was, I pulled out a Great Ball to catch him since I thought it was the one that best matched his appearance.

“So here’s how it’s going to work,” I started to explain. “I’ll catch you in this ball and then hand you over to Nurse Joy, who’ll give you a checkup to make sure you’re in perfect health. I’m going to specifically ask that she doesn’t register you with me since I won’t be your trainer, and soon after I’m going to call Laura to send you over to her. Trust me, you’re going to love her.”

Hitmonchan looked hesitant, but pressed his glove to the ball and was sucked in. It shook a few times as Hitmonchan got used to being contained within it before it finally settled with a flash and a ding.

I returned the rest of my Pokémon, only leaving out Swablu since he was small enough to not bother people we walked by in town, and headed to the Pokémon Center. Since we emerged from the direction of the mountains, it wasn’t the same Pokémon Center I had brought Wally to when I first met him, but it was nostalgic to be back in the same town I spent a month in before the start of the League. I briefly considered stopping by to say hello to Wally’s cousin, Wanda, but her dad didn’t like me so I didn’t bother to intrude.

It’s like he blames me that Wally left to become a trainer, or something. I mean that’s exactly what happened, but it was what Wally wanted anyway.

I entered the Pokémon Center and handed over Hitmonchan’s Great Ball. The Nurse Joy there looked at me a bit funny when I asked for the ball to not be registered, since that was something a poacher might do, but when I explained I caught it for someone else and described Laura, Nurse Joy accepted my request. It wasn’t completely unusual for someone to do what I was doing, heck there were jobs to catch Pokémon for other people, but generally those Pokémon were registered to their recipients before being handed over.

Hitmonchan was handed back to me after the few minutes it took for the resident Chansey to give him a checkup. His ball was registered to him so his medical information could be stored in their system, but it was listed as no owner so Laura could claim him for herself. While I had been waiting, I called Laura with my Pokégear to tell her to head to a Pokémon Center and call me on the video phone number I provided.

I sat on the stool in the Pokémon Center for just a bit longer, waiting for her to call, before the phone started to ring. I picked up the receiver and the screen fizzled with static before Laura’s annoyed face appeared on its video screen.

“Yeah? What was so important that you needed me to use a video phone and interrupted my training?”

I shot her a deadpan look.

“Laura, you’re always training. I would have interrupted you no matter what.”

I watched her face scrunch up on the video screen.

“Yeah, yeah. Just tell me what you need,” she said, waving me off.

“Gimme a moment.”

I bent down to open up the compartment of the computer that was used for Pokéball trades and placed Hitmonchan’s Great Ball inside. I hit the button to send it over, and after a brief confirmation I wasn’t asking for anything in return, the Pokéball disappeared into light.

Laura gasped on the other side.

“You’re joking.”

I smiled at her.

She reached down to pick up the Great Ball that was now located within her own device and held it in her hands. She briefly asked me if it was small enough to release inside a Pokémon Center, and I told her the Pokémon was.

She set down the receiver and released Hitmonchan behind her. He looked around, alert, and Laura immediately jumped up and started pestering him with questions. She got more and more excited as Hitmonchan answered, and he even demonstrated some weak elemental punches when she asked.

As soon as she saw the elemental punches, Laura hurriedly sat back down and picked up the phone, then shouted at me through it.

“Thank you thank you thank you, okay got to go, going to train him, talktoyoulater,” she said before suddenly hanging up.

I wanted to tell her he still needed to be registered, but the screen went black before I could say anything.

Oh well. I’m sure she’ll figure it out eventually.

My team and I spent the rest of the day relaxing in Verdanturf before heading out to Mauville. Florges took time to visit her old home in the flower fields again and greeted her old friends. There were far more Flabébé than I ever realized as they swarmed around her excitedly. I gave her plenty of time to let her regale them of her adventures so far as they listened in excitedly. She was practically beaming when it was time to go, and seeing her next to the Pokémon that could fit in my hand was yet another reminder of how far she’d come.

We left Verdanturf late morning the next day to return to Mauville. Wally had already earned his fifth badge in Lavaridge, so it would be time to meet soon. I would have a few days to spare before he showed up, and I remembered that a certain Gym Leader offered me a battle in the past.

I recognized that I had been far too paranoid around Wattson, and knew that I had reacted a little too harshly. I wasn’t anywhere near as stressed now that someone out there knew, and now that I was actively being protected. I hoped that if I battled Wattson again with a casual battle, we could put any potential uncomfortable feelings behind us. I knew Wattson still had that same Electrike from underneath the Seaside Cycling Road, and that the last two times we fainted it were from Ninetales’s (Vulpix’s back then) illusions conjured by Confuse Ray. Electrike should have evolved by now, and I wanted to see how Ninetales measured up against it now that she’d evolved.

It took us two and a half days to reach Mauville from Verdanturf, a bit longer than last time since I didn’t bother rushing. The Pokémon Centers in town were nowhere near as crowded as they were previously since trainers were now spread throughout the region and not cramming into a single city.

I booked a room and left the egg as well as any member of my team that wanted to relax inside the Pokémon Center. I stopped at the same Pokéblock store as before to buy treats for everyone on my team as well as Banette, just because I wanted to and not for any specific reason. I also stopped to buy some extra Pecha berries since Florges had to put up with Hitmonchan, who she still wasn’t the largest fan of. After I returned, we sat around the Pokémon Center room to relax and my Pokémon enjoyed their treats. Once I judged it late enough that there wouldn’t be any challengers, I returned everyone to their Pokéballs and headed back out to visit the Mauville Gym once more and hopefully have a casual battle with Wattson.

I arrived at the Gym late afternoon to find that familiar waiting room but now missing a lot of its chairs. It seemed they’d been put away now that they were no longer needed for the initial rush. I approached the receptionist, an unfamiliar Gym Trainer, to inquire about the potential for a battle.

“Hi, I’m interested in an unofficial battle with Wattson?”

He looked away from the computer he was typing on to face me.

“Oh? You don’t want a Gym Badge?” he asked.

I took out my badge case to show him the Dynamo Badge that was already contained within it.

“No, Wattson offered to let me challenge him again after I beat him. I wanted to see how my Ninetales holds up to his Electrike, which probably evolved by now.”

“His Electrike...?” The Gym Trainer furrowed his brows in confusion before realizing which Pokémon I meant. “Oh! That little guy. Yeah, he’s a bit more aggressive than the other ones so Wattson had to put in extra time training him. He actually evolved within the last month, so he should be a better matchup to a Ninetales now. I’ll send Wattson a message, he’s probably just training some of his other Pokémon right. You can go into the arena, no one’s around right now so it’s still empty.”

I nodded and thanked the Gym Trainer then went into the familiar arena. It was empty like last time I entered, but instead of being intentionally empty to safely sneak in a question about Mega Evolution, it was just empty because no one was there.

A door in the back of the room opened up and Wattson strode in, wearing the same Alolan shirt he wore last time.

“Ah, Alex. I’m glad you showed up! I never got a chance to properly thank you for sharing- I mean, for being so kind to me.”

He winked.

“Um, what?” I asked, confused.

“Let’s just say there’s a certain informant about Mega Evolution we’re not supposed to mention.”

Wattson laughed at my confusion.

I guess he figured out who shared the information with Norman, but still doesn’t know about my past. I’m glad Steven is keeping his word to keep my background a secret.

“So! You’re looking to test your Ninetales against Manectric?” Wattson let loose a feral grin. “Perfect! That boy needs to be put in his place! He’s been far too full of himself ever since he evolved.”

“Wait, you’re already certain that Ninetales is going to beat your Pokémon?” I asked.

“Not with that attitude! Come on, let’s start our battle!”

In response, we both headed to the trainer box on our respective sides of the field. I sent out Ninetales from her Premier Ball, and Wattson pulled out a Pokéball to send out a tall, blue dog with a yellow, pointed mane.

Manectric immediately struck a haughty pose, practically strutting its stuff, but then it saw Ninetales. It paused for a moment to sniff the air, then lowered its head and started to growl.

“Manectric, I won’t be giving you any commands! Think of this as a test of how well you’ve been trained! Show them what you got!” Wattson shouted.

I was kind of offended that Wattson wasn’t going to command Manectric, but at the same time I was using it as a way to see how far Ninetales had grown, so I didn’t really have the right to complain. Both previous battles with Manectric, Ninetales only won because we abused Confuse Ray. This time, I wanted to see if she could win without relying solely on confusion.

The battle immediately started by Ninetales conjuring a hailstorm with Snow Warning. The hard ice pelted both Pokémon, but only Manectric took damage from it since ice was Ninetales’s element.

Manectric used Charge to increase the flow of electricity in its body and to empower its next Electric Type attack. Ninetales used Manectric’s delay to use Icy Wind to slow its speed. While it looked like this battle would be a ranged one, slowing down Manectric’s speed still meant it would be harder for it to dodge.

Manectric opened its mouth and a concentrated beam of electricity shot out towards Ninetales. The aim was a bit off since Snow Cloak disguised her within the storm, but since it was electricity, the move shot out nearly instantaneously and she was clipped by the attack.

Manectric somehow gained even more confidence after hitting with that move, and I realized that Manectric was using the move Charge Beam to set up and empower itself.

Each time Charge Beam is used, Manectric’s power increases as if it just used Charge again. If it keeps this up, each time it uses the move Manectric will get stronger. We need to stop it from following through with its plans, which means we have to resort to a familiar strategy.

Despite the electric dog’s strategy, I was still confident Ninetales would win. After she dodged Manectric’s second Charge Beam, I called out to her to tell her to use Confuse Ray.

A ghostly ray shot out and Ninetales layered illusions over Manectric’s senses. However, Manectric revealed it had prepared a new defense after its last two defeats to the move. The Electric Type growled under its breath then increased the volume of the sound into a full-on Snarl. The Dark Type soundwave shot out and disrupted the Ghost Type Confuse Ray, stopping the move. What’s worse was that when the move hit Ninetales, she unconsciously took a step back due to the secondary effect of the Dark Type energy. Snarl’s impact meant she was slightly intimidated and less willing to use the full power of her moves, so all of her future special attacks would be weakened.

I cursed under my breath, but didn’t feel upset for too long since I realized Manectric’s defense had a flaw. Ninetales hit Manectric with an Ice Beam while dodging another Charge Beam, then as Manectric prepared its next attack, I shouted a command to Ninetales.

“Time your Confuse Ray to hit it in the middle of its attack!”

If Manectric wanted to use Snarl to disrupt Confuse Ray, it would need to figure out how to use two attacks at once, which it clearly wasn’t able to do.

Ninetales waited until Manectric used yet another Charge Beam and positioned herself to dodge like she had done with almost all of the others. The second Charge Beam shot out and she unleashed a ray of her own. Manectric was unable to defend itself and tried to close its eyes to prevent the confusion from taking effect, but Ninetales was far past the point of only relying on visual illusions.

Almost immediately, Manectric stumbled as its sense of balance was thrown off. The confusion combined with the low visibility in the snow meant that it was almost completely unable to find Ninetales within her storm. With the Charge Beams stopped, Ninetales finally had time to unleash more frequent beams of her own.

Manectric tried to dodge and take defensive maneuvers, but Ice Beams kept hitting it at odd angles as Ninetales moved around the storm. The confusion ended up wearing off quickly, but Ninetales had already disappeared and Manectric completely lost track of her. It tried to find her position based on the origin of her attacks, but that strategy failed since Quick Attack allowed her to move before Manectric’s head could snap towards her position.

Desperate to finish the battle before it was completely frozen over by Ice Beams, Manectric tried to unleash a Discharge, sending out electricity in a wild burst around it. Ninetales was hit by it, but she stayed standing since Snow Cloak let her dodge most of the Charge Beams earlier.

The next Ice Beam knocked Manectric out.

Ninetales released her hold on the hail and the weather started to fade. Snow Warning wasn’t necessarily a permanent weather condition, but she was able to keep it going for longer by weaving in uses of Hail within the battle. It was hard to tell when she was doing it since she didn’t need to use the move at full power, but just slight nudges every so often when she wasn’t attacking to prevent the snow from dying down.

Wattson returned Manectric and let loose a booming laugh.

“WAHAHAHAH! Great battle! Manectric should understand now that he’s not the strongest Pokémon at his level. Your Ninetales has certainly grown immensely, Alex!”

Ninetales trotted over next to me and leaned into my hand as I rubbed her head.

“Yeah, it’s taken a long time of focusing on her cryokinesis to get where we are now. There’s still room for improvement, but it’s always nice to see our efforts pay off.”

Wattson nodded and rubbed his chin wisely, deep in thought.

“I would agree your strategy has room to improve. Ninetales is decent at dodging attacks through her abilities and her own skills, but outside of the weather, your only strategy is to dodge and attack. I recommended branching out into more utility moves, and training her defensive capabilities. It won’t do her any good to get knocked out by a single hit she failed to dodge.”

I returned Ninetales to her Premier Ball and thought about his advice.

“I think you’re right. Only relying on her abilities might spell defeat if we run into an enemy that can change or cancel the weather to counter her. I can think of a few utility moves that’d be pretty strong. We could probably-”

“Sir! You need to see this!”

A Gym Trainer burst out of the door to the back of the Gym and ran towards Wattson.

“On TV, the station, it was playing, but they’re on TV!”

Wattson lost his jovial demeanor and stared at the Gym Trainer intensely. The Gym Trainer gulped after being subjected to Wattson’s stare, but managed to recover enough to properly state the information they came out here to share.

“Team Magma’s on TV.”

I entered the staff room with Wattson, invited in since it was the closest place with a television. A number of Gym Trainers were standing around a set of comfortable chairs and couches situated in front of a wall-mounted television. On it, a reporter from Lilycove's news station was detailing the situation.

"...three-thirty this afternoon. Upon the broadcast being cut, this ransom video played. Please be aware, the images contained may be disturbing."

The station cut to a video with the "TV Mauville" logo faded in the bottom right corner. A familiarly purple-haired admin, Courtney, sat behind a desk usually reserved for Mauville's newscasters. She didn't speak for a few moments, allowing muffled groaning to be heard from somewhere else in the room.

"...Thirty-seven hostages,” she said, finally speaking up in a slow, halting voice. “ …That number may be made more …manageable. …Release Leader Maxie …You crushed our dreams. …We will crush yours."

When her emotionless speaking finished, the camera panned over to an adjacent wall to show a large crowd of people tied up and gagged. Around them were several trainers with large Mightyena and a single Medicham at their side, but I immediately cursed when I saw a familiar face in the crowd.

Why is Wally there?!

The video recording ended and the Gym Trainers in the room immediately started to speak among themselves.

"...here in the city..."

"...captured hostages? How much worse are they going to get?..."

"...ruthless scum, no pride..."

"...scared they might be desperate..."

Wattson was lost in thought next to me as the mumbling continued. I was personally terrified for Wally's safety, and wanted to make sure he would be safe. I spoke up to ask a question, not at Wattson, but just to the air to let any of the numerous Gym Trainers around me answer.

"If they're in the city, can't the League send Ace Trainers in to help? Is the Elite Four going to come?"

Wattson himself responded to my question. All talking in the room ceased when everyone heard his voice.

"No. There's no one coming. The majority of our forces are holed up in the Weather Institute after we received a tip they might be attacking there soon. The rest are in Lilycove, taking out Team Magma's stolen Pokémon ring. It seems both were a distraction. We're all the city has."

The mood turned grim at that declaration. Gym Trainers were supposed to act in defense of their home cities, and as for me, I was a trainer under the League that had earned five badges. For an emergency like this, I was obligated to help with whatever I could do. It was one of the reasons trainers received so many benefits. It helped keep people safe to have so many of them around.

I wasn't upset about being effectively "drafted" to help. Wally was there and I would have demanded to come to save him if it wasn't already the case.

I asked another question to Wattson, being woefully uninformed compared to League employees.

"Why is Team Magma doing this? I thought they were an ecoterrorist group, not a full on evil organization?"

Wattson walked to the front of the room, near the TV, where everyone would be able to see him better.

"Ever since we captured their leader last year, Team Magma has become desperate to free him. At first they just followed their modus operandi, breaking and entering, but as time went on, and we stopped more and more of their attempts to find out where Maxie was being kept, their actions have become extreme. Their original members are dwindling in numbers, and they've resorted to hiring criminals and stealing Pokémon. Their crimes have become violent, hurting victims more often than not.”

Wattson paused briefly and furrowed his brows in thought.

“However, their actions today might have given us an opportunity."

Wattson climbed onto a coffee table to let everyone see him even better. As an old man, he was shorter than everyone else in the room, but right now his stern demeanor and years of experience made it seem like he had the presence of a giant.

“This is our chance to take them out,” Wattson stated. “All our reports have indicated that Courtney is the de facto leader of their organization. If she is arrested, the remnants of Team Magma would crumble. The only issue is Mega Evolution."

The crowd of Gym Trainers began to mumble in confusion as he said that. He looked over the audience, and I noticed his eyes linger on me for a moment longer than they did everyone else.

"We’ve been keeping it a secret to prevent criminal elements from gaining access to it, but clearly, we failed. A few months ago Team Magma raided an ally of ours."

He subtly glanced at me when he said that, and I realized he probably thought I was a member of the Draconid Tribe like Steven had thought.

"Within Meteor Falls, Team Magma ended up stealing a key item related to the phenomenon of Mega Evolution. Courtney is able to temporarily evolve her Camerupt even further, increasing its power to be comparable to a weak Legendary Pokémon."

As he said that, everyone around him gasped in fear. Wattson held up his hands to placate the crowd.

"However, it’s not hopeless. Recently an anonymous source came forward and provided us with extensive data regarding what Pokémon can undergo a ‘Mega Evolution.’ Thanks to their data, we have been able to advance the League’s research to make this knowledge public sooner. We had planned to make an announcement at the start of next year, but in this time of emergency it’s prudent that I explain it to you all so you know what you’re getting into.”

The Gym Trainers were visibly nervous, and why wouldn’t they be? They had just been told that Team Magma’s power approached that of a Legendary Pokémon, and Wattson hadn’t explained why we had a chance yet. Considering I knew what Pokémon was his starter, I had a pretty good feeling what he was going to say next.

“We’re very lucky Team Magma decided to pull this act of terrorism in Mauville and not another city. We’re one of the few Gyms within this region prepared.. You may have seen that I have been locking myself in the spare training field with my starter, Manectric.” I immediately thought of that old, scarred Manectric that slept during my first battle with Wattson. “Well, now’s the time to confess that we have been practicing Mega Evolution.”

Wattson smiled when he shared that, and once more the crowd gasped, but this time in near disbelief.

“WAHAHAHAH! Even though Courtney’s Camerupt is a Ground Type, you all know that ground won’t bring me down.”

Wattson’s sudden shift back to joviality visibly made most of the audience react. There were a few soft sets of laughter as they reacted to what he said. It must have been an in-joke I didn’t understand.

“I can take care of Courtney,” Wattson continued. “What we need to do is free their hostages before I can move in. The issue is, we know they use Psychic Types to protect them from infiltration. Does anyone here have a Dark, Ghost, or Psychic Type Pokémon to get them close?”

The room was silent as he asked that question. I took a moment to think about what options Electric Type specialists had, and realized it wasn’t looking good. The only Dark and Electric Type Pokémon was Morpeko, a Pokémon only found in Galar, and the only Psychic and Electric Type Pokémon was Alolan Raichu, which could only be obtained in Alola. Rotom was a Ghost and Electric Type Pokemon, and I knew a few trainers here had one, but it was too specialized in possessing electronics to protect someone’s mind without a long period of dedicated training. It didn’t seem like anyone had trained theirs like that. Wattson grimaced.

“If we can’t get past their Psychics, then-”

“Wait,” I said, interrupting Wattson.

I’m not happy I’m revealing this, but if it’s to save Wally I’m willing to take the risk.

“I can do it. Psychic Types have a hard time detecting me when I’m not within a few feet of them. While I don’t personally own any Dark Types to assist me, I do have, well, a ghost of a chance.”

Wattson raised an eyebrow and one of the Gym Trainers stepped away from me, realizing what I meant by my ghost pun. Wattson carefully asked me the next question.

“Are you sure? What you’re volunteering for is incredibly dangerous.”

I gave a serious nod of my head.

“They have my friend,” I said. “I’m not going to let them get away with this without a fight.”

Wattson wasn’t happy, but he understood my determination.

“Thank you, Alex, for volunteering. With your help, we can free the hostages and combat Team Magma. Now, we just need to make a plan.”