11:12 P.M. June 14, Monday, 106 PH (Post Hoopa Event)

Events: The start of the 2nd week in the Joint Kanto and Johto Indigo Summer League Preliminaries. 1st of the 2 Days of Rest after the previous week’s battles.

Swirling nervousness and excitement twisted Mallory’s stomach as Lyra teleported them to their various locations, causing a smile to brighten her lips. In the next second, she went from beaming sunlight to a densely overgrown forest, thick canopy blocking out the chance for most of the sun’s rays to reach them far below massive tree branches.

“Oh, wow … Viridian Forest is crazy,” she mumbled.

Spinning in a slow circle with Gables on her shoulder, she noticed him scanning for danger, but it would be difficult to spot any Pokemon in the thickets surrounding them. Plus, they’d more than likely scattered the moment their presence was known and were scouting them out before preparing to attack.

It was dark, but she could still spot a few Pokemon with the dim lighting before they ducked into the brush. The only ones she recognized were Pidove, Venipede, Budew, Foongus, and Skorupi.

Casey, her step-sister, was managing her unbound, absurdly thick silvery-blue hair while scanning the forest. “Eh … yeah, but at least it’s not as dark as Ilex Forest … still too dark for me. Yo, Lori … you think there’s any chance we get through this without something tangling and damaging our hair? Look at this place…”

“Our hair?” Mallory snickered, shifting the purple tote bag on her shoulder to pull around her braided purple locks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but my hair’s gonna be fine!”

A grimace touched her sister’s cheeks while glancing at her, vision narrowing to get a better look as her eyes adjusted. “Yeah, yeah…” Her focus soon returned to their surroundings. “Gah, I should have done mine up…”

Gables hopped down to talk to the invisible Pokemon, hiding in the brushes; Mallory hadn’t seen a single one after the first few, but the sounds were evident as they spoke to one another.

Mallory’s eyes were beginning to adjust as she blinked. It really was a super dense part of the forest; Lostlorn Forest couldn’t even compare as she judged the tall grass and foliage surrounding them. “Want me to do it up real fast?”

As her vision cleared, she saw Casey wearing an annoyed frown while playing with a decent clump of her thick locks, and judging by the crease in her lips and nose, something was eating her up inside besides the possibility of tangling her hair. She hadn’t seen her sister this agitated in a long time.

“Uh … yeah, that’d help, I guess.”

She set down her black and blue tote bag to find hair ties. “I wasn’t really ready for the whole teleport campout…”

“Heh, sure,” Lori chuckled, taking the tie and lifting a purple eyebrow at Casey’s hair; she’d turned her back to her and flipped it out. “Hey, wanna sit down and chill for a bit; this might take a while.”

“Really?” Casey grumbled, glaring down at the long blades. “I’m not wearing tights like you…”

“C’mon,” she laughed, pulling off her bag and dropping to her side, and smoothing out the grass to act as a cushion. “Sit down so I can do your hair! See, I’ve got a spot open for ya.”

Her sister released a low groan, rubbing the back of her neck and averting eye contact; Sadie, her shiny Mudkip, was having a hard time deciding if she should help Gables or stay close to Casey, which was even further proof something was eating at her sister.

“Gah, fine … Mom would hate it here.”

Mallory rolled her eyes as Casey smoothed out her skirt and pulled her hair over her shoulder to sit; there Casey went, bringing up their Mom again. “Okay, Cass, stop dropping hints and just say it.” She sighed, smoothing out her hair in a simple triple-lock braid like Amira seemed fond of.

“What?” She asked, leaning away defensively.

“...” Lori just worked on the braid in silence until she broke down.

“Fine, okay!” Casey groaned, hands tightening against her bare thighs. “It’s just been … I don’t know, a bit rough with Inoa and Ellie. Okay?”

Mallory’s vision shot to Gables as he disappeared into the brush with Sadie, further talking with the Wild Pokemon. They’d apparently moved from alarm to curiosity, trying to gauge their intent after randomly showing up in their area.

“Hmm? Could have fooled me with all those pictures on MemeStar and posts on PikaBook, Cass. What’s up?”

Casey wasn’t being totally honest with her, which was typical when things got this bad, but Mallory expected several things were finally collapsing in on her sister, and she was projecting it on her teammates.

“Yeah, well … I mean, I have like 20 million followers on MemeStar; I can’t put out stuff that’ll get people to harass them…”

Lori shook her head with a sad sigh. She hated it when Casey got this way; her sister loved to be the virtual party’s spotlight but always had something to complain about. Of course, she blamed social media for being the big spark that turned Casey into the hot mess she’d become, and to a certain extent, their mother.

“Uh-huh,” Lori finished the braid a lot quicker than she expected, purple eyes closing to lie back in the tall grass as Casey inspected it. Settling in for what she knew was coming, Mallory crossed her legs, black thigh highs blocking most of her skin from the grass’s tickling sensation. Still, she was forced to scratch her neck once she settled in. The ground wasn’t wet enough to cause problems, and the long blades provided decent comfort.

“Okay, let it out, Cass. What’s so annoying about them?”

It was like a dam had opened as Casey started her rant, and Lori just listened; with her eyes closed, it was easier to identify the fluctuations in her sister’s voice, highlighting different points.

“Well … I mean, Inoa isn’t that annoying per se, but gah, she has issues! No … I take it back, yeah, she’s pretty annoying,” Casey huffed, fiddling with the quick braid Mallory did. “She’s got this emotional, psychic thing … it’s like Will and Whitney had a kid, tossed her into that old hippie dude’s kum-ba-yah summer camp every year to learn about the stupid poké flute crap … you know, that thing anyone can just play a recording on their phone if needed these days, and dosed her up on ten pills of estrogen and progesterone before throwing her into my party!

“She’s got zero music taste … country and the stupid weird Alolan country kind that adds Pokemon sounds into the background. I mean, what, is she twelve?” She groaned, scratching her brow.

“The girl plays it while she’s showering and has the neighbors pounding on the wall for her to stop … I just, really? I’d get it if she were listening to Elesa, that Muk bumps, but Alolan country…”

Casey took a deep, fuming breath, and Mallory cracked an eye to see her hands occasionally animating her frustrations. Closing her eyes again, she patiently listened to her sister’s biting comments, waiting for her turn.

“Oh, and then there’s Ellie, gah! I can hardly understand her, and she’s obsessed with her grandfather; it’s like, yeah, I know, he’s a High Master, whoopie-doo, he’s got a Gym. Who’s she trying to impress? Both our parents are in the Elite 4 … in two entirely different regions! Galar doesn’t even have a proper League; it’s just sad how much she focuses on that one thing!”

Sounds like someone I know… Lori thought with a bit of agitation growing in her own breast, but she was patient and let her sister continue to pump it out.

“She has no party sense, at all!” She growled, leaning forward to press her chest against her knees and pull back her braided hair. “It’s impossible with the two! Getting Inoa to go into a club is like pulling teeth, and Ellie can’t dance for Shellder, and her face … her Mukin’ face just won’t show any emotion! It’s like she’s a Slowpoke, and my comment section can’t get over it!”

Casey swapped directions on the drop of a pin, pulling up her phone. “Oh, and did you see this? Did you see this?!”

Mallory cracked open an eye to passively watch a clip on Tonia’s MemeStar page, one of the few competitors Casey had on the platform.

The short was of Casey storming up to Ellie on yesterday’s morning live stream and chewing her out for popping her tongue too much; Mallory guessed it was a nervous relief action the girl did. The text Nidoran♂ was over her with Slowbro over Ellie; after a moment, Tonia began speaking with an amused tone.

“Angry Nidoran uses Growl; it’s worthless, just like his brain. Heh, dumbfounded Slowbro uses Confusion; it’s super effective!” It ended with Casey storming out of the hotel room, red-faced and fuming.

“Yeah!” Casey barked, “Tonia did me like that, and then she called me a hormonal drunk Nidoking, trolling for simps! She called me ugly!”

Mallory ached to say, not exactly, among a few other things but continued to listen as if using Bide. If she wanted to get her point across her sister’s thick skull, then Mallory had to let her frantic sister keep throwing rope around her neck.

Casey’s face was becoming red with frustration and a bit close to tears. “Inoa’s a walking disaster that could totally ruin me while streaming, and Ellie is like a brick wall with zero personality that does everything in her power to make me want to strangle her! Do you see why it’s just … they’re horrible!”

She seemed to be finished, causing Mallory to take a deep breath; the emotions Gables was feeding her while talking with Casey’s Mudkip added more fuel.

Her sister could be a complete drag sometimes, but she was her sister, and it was Mallory’s job to set her straight. It had been a few weeks since she’d seen the building pressure building in Casey and knew something like this would probably happen … she just didn’t think it would be this bad.

Opening her eyes, Lori hoisted herself up and unclipped her phone to open the app their father had given them … Casey just didn’t have the patience to learn it.

“Mallory!” Casey growled, glaring at her as she turned her attention to the device. “Weren’t you listening? Help me out; you’re the one that always has the plans! Wait … is that a new type of phone? Where’d you get it?!” She asked, leaning over to stare at the holographic display with shining eyes. “Why are you…”

“Mhm,” Lori grunted, pulling up TopMemeStar.gon, a 3rd party website designed for monitoring account monthly numbers, biography, and general schedule times. “You dipped by roughly 50,000 followers last month…”

Casey instantly went on the defensive, folding her arms and tightening her lips. “Well, yeah … but I got 150,000 back after the Goldenrod Central Street Club stream!”

“Mhm … and Mom just broke 21 million followers.”

“So…” Casey huffed, tucking her lip under while glaring at the forest. “I mean, yeah … okay, she hit 21 million first, but … yeah, of course, she would start growing super fast when the International crap hit and lots of people were looking more into our League…”

“Cass…”

“What?” She asked, arms tightening under her breasts. “Stop making fun of me and help!”

“Gah…” Mallory dropped back down to the grass. “You’re projecting hard, Sis … really kills the vibes.”

Casey’s mouth dropped open in disbelief. “Projecting?! What do you mean? Hey, I’m your sister, help me out … don’t go throwing me under a Rhyhorn, too, Muk…”

“I’m not, Cass … look, name me five friends,” she waited just until she was about to talk before adding, “not online MemeStar friends.”

Just like that, her sister’s jaw snapped shut, brow furrowing while scouring her contacts for anyone who fit the bill; Cassey was extremely competitive, and when she was losing, she’d start getting flustered and angry.

“... Yeah, okay, I have friends!”

“Mhm…” Lori replied, clearing her throat while settling further onto her grass bed to let Casey know she was waiting.

“Geez, can you give me a minute to think? Muk! Umm … yeah, there’s Trevor!”

Mallory smirked. “Mom’s chauffeur … really, that’s the first friend that comes to mind?”

Casey’s cheeks darkened. “Well…”

“Mhm?”

“I hate it when you get like this! Look, I’ve got a lot of friends on MemeStar, okay? It’s not like you can talk; the only person you ever hang out with is Len,” she smugly smirked.

“Mmh … there’s Tony, Jainna, Ronny … sometimes Paul asks me out on dates, but he’s kind of been a bit distant since Jainna’s taken an interest in him. Jordan usually asks me out to the…”

“Okay, I get it; you’re popular!” Casey huffed. “Yeah, you go out with a lot of people, great, but I can’t go out with fans or followers, and besides, who doesn’t know who I am? You’ve always tried to keep a low profile!”

“Not really,” Lori shrugged. “We should get back to your problem, though … Mom and MemeStar.”

Casey gave her a strange look. “Huh? No, my problem is Inoa and Ellie…”

“No,” she interjected, “your problem is toxic social media and an obsession to beat Mom at something. C’mon, Cass, take a step back … who do people compare you to?”

“Well…” She refused to say it, left hand gripping her arm. “It’s not just that…”

“Who?”

“... Mom…”

“How did Tonia get her fame?”

Her sister rolled her eyes. “Yeah, bashing me with memes…”

“Karen 2.0?”

“Lori!” Casey cried, face turning red as she hit a soft spot. “You should know how that makes me feel…”

“My point,” Mallory groaned, head sinking back. “You’ve been locked in MemeStar instead of the real world … you have no friends, everyone you call friends are just there to leech off your popularity, and you know it, you have no real social skills … yeah, none,” she repeated at Casey’s tearing up glare.

“The moment someone talks to you about anything non-MemeStar related, you freeze and pivot. You gauge your looks off comments, using filters when you have a bad day, and cry if you get less than a million likes on a post. The smallest criticism from anyone sends you blazing into a flame war that continues until you ask me how to stop it, and then if Mom gets a MemeStar award before you, it’s the end of the world…”

Casey’s lower lip started to tremble as tears fell down her cheeks. “You’re being so mean, Lori … and … and Mom doesn’t even post often or take it seriously, but … but she does better than me…”

“Why?” Lori rhetorically asked. “Because you prop up her account; you’ve made it a war that your followers feed into, and enough second accounts, and boom, they’re getting you to post more crazy things like clockwork. The smallest controversy and the toxic crowd starts flooding other accounts to spread the sickness like a disease, trying to get any stupid opinion anyone else has to offer to another platform to get a reaction.”

A few tears ran down Casey’s cheeks, and she wiped them away, sticky throat changing her voice a bit. “I … you’re supposed to help me … not make me feel even worse,” she sniffed.

Mallory figured it would get to this point and got up before Casey could think about running away to cry. Latching onto her hurting sister, Lori dragged her to the ground with Casey on top of her. “Hey … I am, but this is the only way I can get to you. Okay? I love you.”

Casey’s chest convulsed against her breast, sniffing loudly as she started to break down. “I … I just … I don’t know what to do, Lori … I just … it really hurts when people make fun of me, and … and Inoa’s been making me so emotional that … that I post stupid things…”

“You’re miserable … I know…” Mallory sighed, rubbing her sister’s back. “I’ll always be here for you, though … even if I’m mean sometimes, I want to help. Sisters, right?”

She let Casey cry on her and babble gibberish for a few minutes, allowing her to get out the bottled-up emotions from hundreds of toxic comments, posts, and self-disgust at being less than dirt for not meeting up to her own unattainable goals.

Mallory had seen MemeStar taking over her sister’s entire identity for about two years now; at first, it was a fun way for the two of them to share things across regions.

However, the moment Casey introduced their mother to it, and she began posting short clips of Grandmaster-tier Battles, mixed with fun memes or posts, her account swiftly blew up to 100,000 followers. The brief bit of fame jumped Casey’s follower account up, and then the trouble started.

It was Casey’s continual drive to outperform her mother that slowly drove her into this unhealthy fear of being forgotten and the people that acted like her friends across the world when they knew absolutely nothing about her.

Their mother rarely ever posted matches and never read comments; she just got a kick out of seeing the heart mile-marker notification hit her phone with the little animation that would show new monthly Pokemon gifs she thought was cute; last month had been the Eevee line every million views, and them playing with one another after 15 million. It was a very simple thing that had their mother post every once in a while to cheer herself up after a long League meeting day.

To Casey, it was a war of how many comments each received, how many hearts or shares, and the follower count continuing to increase. The mistake she’d made mainly came a year ago, setting a goal video if she managed to beat her mother’s next video … a certain branch of her community discovered ways to manipulate Casey into posting more and driving her into crazier behavior until she was blackout drunk in a club.

They’d even influenced her clothing style, continuing to show more and more skin or perform various sexualized dances to get more views. It had taken over her entire mind, without her even realizing it.

Mallory had a fair few followers at 120,000, but most of them had been a cross-over from Casey’s 20 million. She didn’t post the same type of content that got the rage-bait and click-bait to avoid the crowd it brought.

Overall, she thought social media was a cancer that would eventually eat itself as accounts turned on each other, rules cracked down with postable content, bans happened, and legal battles tore the company apart from a toxic user base.

Still, it did have its uses if used properly, but it would always spiral out of control.

Once Casey calmed down, Lori helped her sister to her knees and straightened Casey’s dress and hair as she tried to temper her emotions. “... There we go … what do you need to do? You won’t like my suggestion. Want to hear it?”

“... I know … cut off social media, right? It’s just … I don’t know,” her chest fluttered again as she took a deep breath. “I get this urge to just … just check my dashboard and see how many followers I’m up … and suddenly I’m just doing it. I know I should probably not look at comments … it just nags and nags, and then out of nowhere I’m looking at them … replying … getting angry … posting…”

Mallory sighed. “Yup … you’ve tied your entire identity to it; your whole life revolves around it … you need other hobbies or interests to fill the void. It’s gonna be hard to find something with that same dopamine kick, though…”

“Geez … I don’t even know what you’re saying sometimes,” Casey cried, rubbing her puffy cheeks. “Like … what should I do?”

Mallory’s lips lifted into a big grin. “I know … how about you change your branding.”

“My branding…” Casey dully repeated.

“Give control of the account to Iona or Ellie and stop doing streams. Let them post instead of you, and tell them to disable DMs.”

Casey’s expression fractured. “Give … control … no, no, no, I can’t do that.”

“C’mon, Cass,” Mallory encouraged. “You’re an introvert that loves to act like an extrovert; you can’t stand hanging around large groups of people.”

It’s not like Casey could lie to her … they’d known each other as far back as either of them could remember, causing a low whimper to escape her sister’s throat. “But … I really don’t know how to talk to people … I just talk to the camera.”

“Mhm! You have teammates, though,” she encouraged. “It’s hard, but if you really, really want to feel better and not so depressed all the time … open up to them, and let them know that you’re struggling.”

“... Lori, but that’s … that’s the exact opposite of what I’ve been trying to do,” Casey cried. “Inoa’s psychic, emotional blast sends me running from the room to not break down! I don’t want to…”

Mallory closed in to hug her again. “Be vulnerable? You are! Are you kidding me? You’re shaking as if you jumped into an ice bath, and there’s nothing wrong with it … cry if you want to, and let it out.”

“...” She began to weep again, and Lori held her.

“It’s not gonna be easy, alright? It’s gonna be tough, but you’re tough … tell me.”

“T-Tell you what?” Casey sniffed, reaching down to rub her concerned Mudkip’s forehead; she’d returned with Gables after making sure they’d be safe in the area. There seemed to be a little concern, but nothing immediately requiring Lori’s attention in the wild forest.

“Tell me you’re tough, silly,” she giggled, stroking her fingers through her sister’s long bluish-silver hair; part of it had come undone.

“... I’m tough…”

“I couldn’t hear you,” Lori teased.

“I … I’m tough, okay!”

“Yeah, you are,” she said, pulling away to give her a warm smile. “You’re my tough little sister.”

“Well … we don’t really know who’s older,” Casey mumbled, bringing up an old argument they had when kids.

“Are you kidding me?” Mallory smirked. “Look at me! Who’s older?”

Casey’s puffy cheeks bunched a little before her gaze fell to her bust. “Yeah, well … size isn’t everything, and I beat you when we were 12.”

“Two weeks,” Lori scoffed, folding her arms. “Although you’ve always had longer hair than me … and that thickness could give Rhea a run for her credits.”

A small, thankful smile brightened Casey’s face. “I do have pretty hair.”

“Oh, no,” Mallory gasped, hand flying to her mouth as she stared at her shoulder.

“What?!” She asked, following her gaze.

“You’ve got something stuck … right … there…”

“Where…”

“There…”

“... There’s nothing … gah…” Casey growled, shoving her shoulder with a weak smile. “Don’t scare me like that!”

Mallory chuckled, throwing her arm back to keep balanced. “Okay, so, gonna give Inoa and Ellie another chance?”

“... Yeah, I guess, but … I mean, I’ll try it. Inoa’s just kind of … well, scary … knowing exactly how you’re feeling. I don’t want her to know that.”

“Imagine it from her side,” Mallory returned, grunting while getting to her feet. She walked around to her sister’s back to help manage her hair again. “She probably doesn’t want to get mixed up with random people’s baggage … I wouldn’t.”

“... I guess,” Casey mumbled, following her action after her hair was fixed. “Umm … so, how’s your group?”

“You kidding me?” Lori chuckled. “Rhea’s pretty cute and socially awkward; the perfect combo. Heh, she’s practically sugar in a needle with how she can fidget sometimes! Amira’s kind of serious, but she’s smart, and I get the feeling she’s hiding a lot under that cool-girl vibe.”

“Sounds nice,” Casey whispered, averting her eyes again.

“Girl, please,” Lori laughed, hopping over to nudge her with her hips and throw her sister off-balance, “you’d be complaining about Amira being more popular than you and Rhea messing up battles or something. Lighten up, Sis, and get away from that whole MemeStar persona!”

“... I know,” Casey moaned, pulling back her hair. “I’ll work on it.”

“Uh-huh … updates!” Lori sang, giving her a wink.

“... No, Lori … we’re not thirteen anymore…”

“You know you won’t follow through unless I’m holding you to it!”

“... Ugh … fine…”

Mallory darted back in to hug her. “That’s the adorable little sister I know!”

“Gah…” Casey’s face was probably blushing against her chest; she both hated and loved being labeled the little sister … it just depended on the context. Her sister’s flair was back as Lori pulled away, and there was a confident smile back on her lips.

“Alright,” Lori stated, bending down to pick up her bag, “you ready to look for our second Pokemon? I bet I’ll find one first!”

Casey’s toothy grin reappeared. “You’re on. How much?”

“Uh … how about I give you two Rocket stocks if you win?”

“Weird flex,” Casey mumbled, lips curving into a smirk as her eyebrows lifted. “When did you get into stocks?”

Lori’s cheeks bunched to the side, cupping her chin. “Uh … 15? Yeah … around there was when Dad got me my first.”

“Well, whatever,” Casey shrugged, “that works. What about if you win?”

“Come again?” Mallory asked with an innocent smile.

“I asked…” She trailed off, catching her meaning. “Fine … a mystery box if you win.”

“Well, let’s go!”

* * *

Gables reassured Sadie, Casey’s Mudkip, that her Trainer would be fine, but he could understand why she’d be concerned, given what he felt from Mallory. The Pokemon around them observed their humans in fascination, and a rude Hoothoot was laughing at Casey’s tears, finding crying humans entertaining.

Overall, the area they’d come to was fairly boorish, with Pokemon having a fairly savage view of humans. They weren’t precisely hostile toward them, but from the influence of Pokemon further up the mountain, humans were seen as weak and stupid. However, one thing stood out to him … pranks seemed to be the name of the game in this area of the forest.

The area wasn’t run by pure power, but by the level of trickery the Pokemon could employ to beat their competition, and the dense environment allowed for gorilla tactics to push out slightly stronger Pokemon.

That being said, there was an Area Boss, which Gables was eager to meet.

He and Sadie had finished spreading the word about their purpose here and desire to see the Area Boss, letting the Mudkip return to comfort her Trainer. The mass of emotions seemed to have faded in Casey because Sadie was less agitated.

The shiny Mudkip was very pretty like most shiny Pokemon were, but sadly, her much higher-pitched voice would probably turn off many males; it wasn’t that bad to him. Still, she seemed personable, energetic, and caring. Although a little nervous when first talking with him, it had come off charmingly.

He grinned at her as their Trainers prepared to move out, Casey cleaning herself up a bit with Sadie providing a bit of water. “So, you good to trick on these fools?”

“Mhm! Umm … but what do you want me to do?” She asked. “I can wallop them or spray water really hard.”

He shook his head. “Remember those two Moves you told me about before?”

“Eh,” she looked doubtful, glancing left at a few Pokemon, hidden from sight in the brush, while laughing at how they were going to get pounded into the mud. “You know … it takes a while to do the big one … and do they know we like the mud?”

“Don’t worry about it!” He replied with a wave of his hand. “You just need to distract one for a moment so I can get a good shot in, and then they’ll be focused on me.”

She didn’t seem convinced. “Okay…”

They were now on the move, following the snickering Pokemon to their boss. It couldn’t be a trap, which Zelri had warned them about looking out for … well, who would be stronger than their boss, and from what he’d heard, the head Pokemon never turned down a fight since it would ruin their image in the pack.

The dense forest was filled with hidden Pokemon, each one trying to trip them up with their whispers or make them turn back. Lori and Casey were too busy talking with each other to notice the atmosphere, and Gables wasn’t that concerned since Lyra and Zelri, her Porygon-Z, were watching over them.

This was the quickest way to get to the person in charge, and from there, they could figure out who was interested in getting out of this gloomy overgrown area. Surely, there had to be someone sick of this atmosphere.

When they made it to the hollow den of a large Pokemon, they stopped, and Mallory purchased something to help them identify the many new faces around the area. Even she didn’t know a lot of the Pokemon leaving the brush to witness the show.

A long black hand stretched out of the dark area before bright, shimmering white eyes and a small reg glow illuminated within. Out crawled a vicious-looking Pokemon with a wide, sharp-toothed grin … and unsurprisingly, Mallory squealed with excitement. It was a Sableye, and he’d mop the floor with Gables, he was sure.

Sableye’s oddly shaped head tilted as he hopped forward, and the silence around the forest pressed in on them.

“The Boss of this area is a Silver-tier Sableye! He’s so cute!” Lori elatedly spoke through their bond.

Eh … if you say so. Kind of creepy that he’s not even saying anything; gotta be real.

Sadie was trembling beside him as the Sableye’s much greater pressure hit him; his speed increased sporadically, making his movements oddly hard to follow while circling them, gem-like eyes shining ominously.

“Ooh, I think that’s Stall; he can trick his opponents’ energy-sensing abilities by changing his Move’s attack speed, baiting out Protects and other types of Moves. Pretty decent … oh, I wish he’d join us … gah, even if he’s part Ghost, but I really doubt it, and we couldn’t even use him in the Bronze League. So, uh … what’s he want?”

I don’t know … he’s just stalking around us like a creeper, Gables noted with a lifting eye.

“Heh … wait, are you calling him a creeper when you literally camo stalk?”

Eh … at least I’m not creepy about it…

“H-Hi?” Sadie mumbled.

Hissing laughter escaped his wide grin while hopping forward to stand a few inches away from Sadie, and before Gables could try to get between them by guiding her back, he jumped on his feet to stand the same distance from him … then he retreated back.

“Okay … what’s up?” Gables asked with a forced smile. “You’re the Boss of this area, right?”

The weird Pokemon completely ignored him, snapping his fingers and pointing at a few nearby bushes. Gables had no idea why he wasn’t talking, but the crowds of Pokemon left them alone.

Once they were gone, he spoke, voice somehow even squeakier than Sadie’s. “You seek a bond partner! Ooh … ooh … and your Trainers are good … very good. I like you … I like you a lot!”

Creepy when he walks and creepy when he talks … what a combo.

Adding a charming smile, Gables nodded. “Yup. We’re here to have fun and see if anyone wants to join…”

He trailed off as the Sableye hopped back and forth. “Yes, yes, the seeking bond thing is a big thing, and humans are fun! I help. I help. Only if show fun stuff. What fun stuff you do?! Attack! Attack!”

His jumpy nature wasn’t on Gable’s wavelength, but there wasn’t much he could do against the vastly more powerful Pokemon. He wanted to see something fun, not powerful, and judging by the talk on the way here, something tricky.

“Gables … uh … what should I do? What does he mean…” Sadie was clearly frightened by the strange Pokemon’s antics in the very dark forest, which made him almost invisible in the shadows.

“... The big one … yeah, do that, and I’ll do my thing…” He said, telling Lori what was expected of them.

“Ah … he’s trying to test us? Not power, huh … just something interesting? Well, we can do that! Seems you read my mind on Sadie’s Move.” He chuckled at her pun, using his Move. “We got tricks for days!”

Gables took a big breath and blew a big bubble, sending it gently floating above the dark Pokemon’s head, now bouncing up and down.

“Oh? Oh?” He questioned, following the shimmering sphere up.

He activated Camouflage, blending into the grass with the Pokemon’s shifted attention, and prowled toward him. Lori’s energy trickled to him through their growing bond, and he charged up Power-Up Punch.

The Sableye’s gaze returned to the field, grin increasing, and if Gables didn’t know any better, he’d say that the Dark/Ghost Pokemon could still see him, but he shifted his attention to Sadie; she was drawing in as much power as she could from Casey to try and get her big Move off. “Oh, tricky-tricky…” He snickered.

Sure enough, the Boss didn’t even flinch as he popped out of camo and threw a hefty punch of orange energy into his face. Gables wasn’t expecting it to hurt the Pokemon as he passed right through the ghost’s wicked-looking face to flip around; he was immune to Psychic, Fighting, and Normal Type Moves, which was a healthy chunk of his Move Pool, but that was fine, this wasn’t a real fight.

Flipping around in the air with the height the punch gave him, Gables spat a glob of mud from his mouth to blind the ghost. It landed, coating his face and causing him to wipe at his eyes. Just as planned, Sadie’s attack started while he was dealing with the mud, and Gables was carried out of range with his surprise punch.

Bluish white energy steamed off of her skin, rising into the air to swiftly form a cloud that gathered above the recovering Sableye. When he could finally see again, the four by four-meter dense fog released a hail of pelting snow, charged with Ice-Type energy to bury the surprised Area Boss and causing his smile to fade at the field of white collapsing around him. He was buried in the Avalanche.

Gables landed a few feet away, barely getting outside of the wide-area Move’s attack radius in time; at least five feet of compressed snow was piled on top of the Ghost Pokemon.

There we go!

“Yeah! Sadie’s got a pretty good Move, but sadly … we’re kind of out of options. All Sadie’s got is that and Water Gun … haha!”

Mallory cracked up laughing as the Sableye popped out of the top of the snow with a big grin to be met with a blast of frigid water from Sadie’s open mouth. Her hesitant voice soon followed. “Uh … G-Gables, that’s all I have … umm, Casey’s saying my other Moves won’t be effective.”

Gables chuckled, hopping around the large deposit of snow to rejoin her, but trailed off as the Sableye phased through the snow to stand between them; his large, sharp-toothed grin was still in place. “Oh … fun, fun attack! I like it! I like it!” He clapped, pointing at him. “Sneaky, sneaky attack…” His fingers shifted to Sadie. “Big, big attack! Yes, yes, there be sneaky and fun Pokemon that want bigger stuff! Come! Come!”

He motioned for them to follow … Gables didn’t think it would be this easy. He saw a few worthless attacks made against him, which meant they passed the cool-test, and was guiding them to Pokemon that would be interested in joining them.

“Uh … okay…” Gables mumbled, giving Sadie a forced smile while communicating the change in direction to Mallory.

“Yo, sick! So, there are some Pokemon that want to join us? This place seems filled with Dark Types … oh, I hope it’s a Dark Type!”

They had a bit of trouble following the ghost through the dense foliage, but he kept hopping back to motion to them, and more Pokemon began following from the shadows.

Uh … weren’t you saying we needed a balanced team, Lori? Too many Dark Types would make us vulnerable, and I’ll become a Dark Type later?

“Hmm? Well … I mean, yeah, we’ll probably be pretty vulnerable if we do have more Dark Types … that’s what you’re asking, right?”

Yup.

“Yeah, true, but … they’re just so cute! I’ll make it work! Dad and Mom do.”

Gables knew she wasn’t completely honest; she just wanted more of her favorite type of Pokemon. Her parents did mostly have Dark Pokemon, but their primary teams were more balanced after getting to the Grandmaster-tier.

He swiftly let the thoughts slide off, though; Mallory was smart and knew what she was doing. Although, the Pokemon they met … had him wondering if she might be blinded by her strange taste.

Gables’s lips pulled in as a Pokemon bordering on funny-looking, and a complete creep jumped out at him from the bushes, tongue out in hopes of jump-scaring him. “Blah! Hehehe…” He shouted before laughing and ducking back into the bushes.

“SO CUTE!” Mallory squealed as the Pokemon hopped up a nearby tree to start shaking a low hanging branch over his head to spray leaves down on him with short snickers.

“Hi! Hi! Oh, Boss thinks you're fun?!” He snickered.

What … is he? Gables asked, activating his camo to crawl into the bushes to give him a taste of his own medicine.

“Ooh! That looks so fun!” The Pokemon giggled, jumping down to look for him. “Where’d you go? Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

Mallory looked at her phone as Sableye guided another small and cheery Pokemon to a hesitant Casey through the brush. “Uh … I think the one that’s taking a liking to you is called Impidimp … it’s a Dark/Fairy Type! Oh, and lots of good things talked about it, and I think it has a decent Move Pool. Oh, look at Sadie! Is she blushing? A Mime Jr.”

Gables popped out of a nearby bush to see what Mallory was talking about and found a small male clown-like Pokemon bowing to Sadie; his voice was a little high for a male. “My lovely pink gem, it would be my pleasure to escort you out of the woods.”

“O-Oh, that’s … that’s nice,” she stammered before running back behind Casey’s legs to hide; she was definitely not accustomed to the strange behavior of the Pokemon around them.

The Mime Jr. covered his mouth with astonishment. “... And you have the voice of a Chatot!”

“N-No … not me,” Sadie mumbled as Casey giggled and bent down to rub her head.

“Most definitely you!” The Mime Jr. replied, hopping forward to bow again. “I would be honored to be by your side … if you will have me.”

So … in the end, Casey got a strangely polite Mime Jr. that made Sadie blush and feel like her voice wasn’t such a bad thing, and Gables … he was stuck with an Impish imp that liked playing tricks and being tricked.

Although Mallory went over his Move Set after bonding, and Gables had to admit, he’d be useful in a Double Battle. Plus, it was technically stronger than him, but not by a whole lot.

Casey named her Mime Jr. Noble, and Mallory named her Impidimp Miky.

Impidimp:

Name: Miky

Nature: Impish (Defense Up; Sp. Attack Down)

Ability: Prankster

Average IVs: 20

Move Pool:

Confide

Fake Out

Bite

Flatter

They were led to a clearing shortly after for Casey and Lori to set-up their tents. The rest of the day was spent going over their new Pokemon’s Move combination and Gables getting to know Miky better; he wasn’t that bad after getting situated with them. There were some excellent combos they could do with speed strategies, giving him a chance to go stealth with the Fake Out stunning one of their opponents at the start.

Casey and Lori did two battles against each other, and they both won a match and left the deciding tie-breaker for another time. Ho-Oh’s appearance helped seal the sisters’ day; Casey was doing much better and Lori could tell her sister was on her way to recovering. Casey just needed her new teammates to support her.