Audino walked into the darkness, disappearing from view. Absol turned back to the Ranger duo. He let out a small bark in their direction.

Absol, however, was not addressing them.

Before they could respond, the red eyes covering their surroundings vanished one by one. Soon enough only 3 Pokemon and two people remained. The Pressure weighing down on them receded. Stuart could breathe again.

Absol then sat back on his hind legs but continued to watch the pair.

“May I?” Stuart held up his Styler.

Absol nodded in the affirmative, knowing the object's function. Stuart deployed the device but kept it close by having it hover above his palm. Absol accepted the connection, allowing them to communicate.

Dark Type Pokemon were the hardest to Capture with a Styler because Psychic Type Energy was rendered void under their Dark Type. If accepted, however, a connection could still be made.

Before Stuart could ask anything, Absol sent his response in advance.

Stuart's face contorted into a strange shape. Absol’s response was odd.

“She is one of yours?” He was puzzled.

‘She’s clearly human. What does he mean?’ Stuart then turned to Aggron.

“Were leaving,” but then paused and glanced back at Absol. “We can leave, right?”

Absol gave no response. Stuart took this as an acknowledgement.

Stuart’s hand shook as he climbed onto Aggron's back. Multiple attempts had to be made when trying to secure himself to the harness.

Aggron took one last look at Lilith before turning back to Buoy.

Pansage sat up and stared at Absol once the duo had left. He gave the little monkey no mind.

Absol lay on the ground in wait.

***

“Head back to Buoy.” Stuart told Aggron.

Ranger Stuart fiddled with his Hollow Castor. His mind was elsewhere. Stuart went over the details of events trying to remember every detail. He pulled up the mission log.

“Call Melinda.” Stuart broke protocol as he spoke into his Castor.

The Castor let out consecutive beeps, waiting for the other line to accept the call.

Where he should have called his handler, instead he called his mentor. Despite that, his Mentor was his Bosses, Bosses, Boss, the top Ranger in all of Unova, and the Head of Ranger H.Q..

Stuart continued his mission log notes. He put down anything and everything he could remember while it was still fresh in his mind.

The line let out a long harsh beep. The line was cut short, the call had been canceled. Stuart hit redial and continued his note taking atop Aggron. He left their safety in her hands.

The two approached Buoy Town as Stuart added more details to his future report. The call was declined a second time before he hit redial for the second time.

Stuart grew more nervous. The uneven tone droned on, until finally there was a click.

An old woman appeared above his Castor. Long gray hair flowed down, collecting behind her head. Wrinkles covered her face. Some were of old age, while others voiced her displeasure. She wore dark green robes that covered most of her body. Harsh green eyes that matched her cloak met his.

“This better be damn important Stuart, I had to step out of a meeting to take this call,” She took a deep breath, “you still have a mission, so spit it out before I wring your neck.” Melinda spat.

His boss was almost as scary as the Absol he had just stared down.

“It pertains to the mission, I have come in contact with a pack of Absol and a child that is potentially ‘Touched’ by them. They intercepted me before I could take the girl.” Stuart spat out his current situation as quickly as he could.

The other end went silent. Only rustling of papers and footsteps could be heard as Melinda’s face changed. The door creaked open, new voices that didn’t belong to Melinda could now be heard discussing something in the background.

“All of you shut up and get out, there's a situation I need to handle personally.” Melinda spoke to the group.

“Wait, you, you, and, you stay.” Melinda revised.

She then spoke towards her Castor.

“Hold that thought Stuart, I need to add more people to this call.” Melinda and her entourage grew busy.

***

Undella Town.

The waves crashed onto the shore. It was a beautiful day for relaxing at the beach. The ambiance held promise.

“Sir! You have an emergency communique!” Until said ambiance was broken.

A dark skinned girl with long, blue tinted hair ran towards an elderly gentleman. He lay out on a beach chair sipping a drink with a tiny umbrella. Beside him sat a Pokemon. The beast lay out on its four legs. An afro sat upon its head while sprouting long horns that held two rings on each side. His body was predominantly bovine. Hooves scratched the sand as he rose. Bouffalant stood and greeted Iris.

“Ouff!”

“Bouf Bouf!”

Iris ran up to Bouffalant and scratched him under the chin. His tail swung back and forth in excitement. Distracted, Iris continued to play with Bouffalant. The elderly gentleman had turned off his Hollo Castor for a reason. It was his one vacation all year.

The old man sat upright with a sigh. He removed his glasses and eyed the two goofballs. He then called out to the two.

“Iris, what is so important that you have to interrupt me on my vacation?” a smooth earthy voice spoke.

Iris snapped back and gave a shy smile.

“Well Mr Alder sir, it started when I went to get my usual morn…”

Before Iris could continue to prattle on, Alder, the Champion and strongest Pokemon Trainer in all of Unova, raised his hand in her direction.

“The broad strokes will do Iris.” He gave a slight smile.

His protege had proven to be incredibly innocent. She was bright, bubbly, and generally a good person. She was too quick to trust however. Iris was used to getting her way, and when it came to anything not related to Pokemon fights she completely ignored it. This lead to no real world experience.

She had been proven to be uniquely focused when it came to raising Dragon Type Pokemon, one of the five hardest Types universally accepted to be the hardest to raise.

Iris quickly rose to prominence, becoming as strong as a 6 Star trainer, strength comparable to a Gym Leader, at only 17. If only she would only stop acting like a child.

From there Alder had picked her up and was grooming her to be the next Champion of Unova. One of the three pillars of the Unova League.

The Professor, the Ranger, and the Champion. The three made all the crucial decisions to allow the people under their charge safety and prosperity. Alder proved to be the strength, while Professor Juniper acted as the brain. Finally, there was Melinda. The Head Rangers' duty was to keep routes safe, scout out the Desolate Lands, and arrange day-to-day business.

“Melinda tried calling you and some other people to go over something important. You didn’t pick up so she called me.” Iris smiled.

Alder sighed.

“Maybe not that broad. Did she say what it was about, or who else will be in attendance?” he questioned.

Melinda was known to be a hardass in a good way. She upheld all the rules and would tolerate no foul play under her watch. Melinda’s punishments were legendary. It was said that she kept the entire League’s logistics running, so if she took time out of her busy schedule to call him into something on his vacation, it must be impotant.

“Hmm I don’t remember all of them, but I saw Professor Juniper, the Elite 4, and some of the Gym Leaders on the list.” She smiled up at Alder, looking for praise.

Instead, his heart dropped. Melinda was calling everyone together. The times a development like this came to light could be counted on one's hand. Something must have gone terribly wrong.

***

Buoy Town

Many similar situations occurred all around the region of Unova. A whos-who of people all converged into a single call.

The originator of the call became increasingly nervous. Stuart sat in the decommissioned Pokemon Center next to his Partner, Aggron. Tens of minutes had gone by. He watched as person after person joined the call, one each more important than the last.

Stuart knew what had happened was a big deal, but he had failed to comprehend how large it actually was. Absol sightings were rare.

Stuart let his mind wander.

He occupied his nerves by going over his planned statement. He had not even told Melinda the whole story. Just one sentence had triggered the event unfolding before his very eyes.

“Stuart get your head out your ass and answer me when I talk to you!”

Stuart locked back in. Melinda continued to stare at him.

“Sorry I was lost in thought.” He replied.

Melinda took one breath in before slowly exhaling. The expression on her face persuaded murder.

“As I was saying!” She emphasized. “A routine check on a decommissioned Pokemon Center just occurred in Bouy Town. This proved to be anything but when I received a call from my PROTEGE!” She underlined her annoyance with Stuart.

“He told me some disturbing news, Stuart please inform us of your… adventures Ranger Stuart.”